Horses and Men (full title: Horses and Men: Tales, long and short, from our American life) is a 1923 short story collection by the American author Sherwood Anderson. It was Anderson's fourth book to be published by B.W. Huebsch and his third collection after the successful short story cycle Winesburg, Ohio . [1] The book was dedicated to writer Theodore Dreiser and included a two-page essay about him titled "Dreiser" in addition to a foreword and nine stories.
The beginning of 1923 was a busy time for Sherwood Anderson. With the publication of his novel Many Marriages (1923) in February, the author turned his attention to an autobiographical work slated for publication in Harper's (though the magazine deal didn't pan out, the work eventually became A Story Teller's Story). [2] It was at a pause in that work that he planned to work on the short story collection already bearing the title Horses and Men. [3] In the beginning of April, that pause came and Anderson put aside his manuscript to turn his focus to the collection [4] which he had promised to his publisher by July 1. [5] Anderson's excitement about the stories in Horses and Men and his comfortable surroundings in a small Reno, Nevada cottage where he was accompanied by his soon-to-be wife, Elizabeth Prall, pushed him to work quickly so the completed manuscript was posted to Ben Huebsch on 16 May 1923. [4] [6]
The months between May and October 1923 found Anderson back to work on Story Teller's Story (then tentatively titled "Modernist Notebook" or Straws) [7] with brief pauses on 19 July and early August to read the proofs for Horses and Men. [8] In multiple letters also sent during that time, Anderson and Huebsch discussed the order of the stories, the book's design, and Huebsch's editing (which was largely hands-off except the normalization grammar and spelling). Originally, it was decided that the design of Horses and Men would resemble Winesburg, Ohio, however the newer book's significantly greater length forced a compromise in which the publisher maintained the earlier book's cover and dust jacket characteristics while adding more words per page in the body of the book. [9] Another compromise was the omission of Anderson's story "There She is -- She is Taking Her Bath" which was scheduled to appear in Pictorial Review in November 1923. Rather than delay publication of the entire collection for the sake of the one story, a decision was made to cut it (the story later appeared in Death in the Woods (1933)). [10] [11] Horses and Men was released on 26 October 1923, selling for $2.00 a copy. [12]
Upon opening the book, readers would see that out of the nine stories and short essay on Dreiser, six were variations of previously published pieces. "Dreiser" was the earliest to be published, appearing in the April 1916 issue of The Little Review . [13] Two of the stories, "I'm a Fool" and "The Man's Story", were published in The Dial (the former also in London Mercury ) in February 1922 and September 1923, respectively, [14] [15] while "The Sad Horn Blowers" made its debut in the February 1923 edition of Harper's. [16] Two of the stories were previously published under different names: "Milk Bottles" as "Why There Must Be a Midwestern Literature" in Vanity Fair (March 1921) [17] and "A Chicago Hamlet" as "Broken" in Century (March 1923). [18] Of the original stories, both "An Ohio Pagan" and "'Unused'" were altered portions of Anderson's unfinished and unpublished novel Ohio Pagans, [19] [20] "The Man Who Became a Woman" was written between November 1922 and April 1923, [6] and "The Triumph of the Modern" was probably penned around mid-August 1922. [21]
The volume includes the following stories:
Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser was an American novelist and journalist of the naturalist school. His novels often featured main characters who succeeded at their objectives despite a lack of a firm moral code, and literary situations that more closely resemble studies of nature than tales of choice and agency. Dreiser's best known novels include Sister Carrie (1900) and An American Tragedy (1925).
Irving Howe was an American literary and social critic and a prominent figure of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Winesburg, Ohio is a 1919 short story cycle by the American author Sherwood Anderson. The work is structured around the life of protagonist George Willard, from the time he was a child to his growing independence and ultimate abandonment of Winesburg as a young man. It is set in the fictional town of Winesburg, Ohio, which is loosely based on Anderson's childhood memories of Clyde, Ohio.
Sherwood Anderson was an American novelist and short story writer, known for subjective and self-revealing works. Self-educated, he rose to become a successful copywriter and business owner in Cleveland and Elyria, Ohio. In 1912, Anderson had a nervous breakdown that led him to abandon his business and family to become a writer.
The American Spectator was a monthly literary magazine which made its first monthly appearance in November 1932. It was edited by George Jean Nathan, though Eugene O'Neill, Ernest Boyd, Theodore Dreiser, and James Branch Cabell were also listed as joint editors. The original editors left the publication in 1935, after which the paper continued monthly publication under new editors until October 1936. The American Spectator lasted another six months on a bimonthly before folding altogether.
David Caradoc Evans, was a Welsh story writer, novelist and playwright.
Dark Laughter is a 1925 novel by the American author Sherwood Anderson. It dealt with the new sexual freedom of the 1920s, a theme also explored in his 1923 novel Many Marriages and later works. The influence of James Joyce's Ulysses, which Anderson had read before writing the 1925 novel, is expressed in Dark Laughter.
"Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family" is a short story in the horror fiction genre, written by American author H. P. Lovecraft in 1920. The themes of the story are tainted ancestry, knowledge that it would be best to remain unaware of, and a reality which human understanding finds intolerable.
My People is a collection of short stories by Caradoc Evans, first published in 1915 by Andrew Melrose and highly controversial at the time. It is subtitled Stories of the Peasantry of West Wales, and has been described as the first work of modern Anglo-Welsh literature.
Indignation is a novel by Philip Roth, released by Houghton Mifflin on September 16, 2008. It is his twenty-ninth book.
Benjamin W. Huebsch was an American publisher in New York City in the early 20th century.
"I'm a Fool" is a short story by American writer Sherwood Anderson. It was first published in the February 1922 issue of The Dial, and later, in 1923 as the first story in Anderson's short-story collection Horses and Men. Of that collection, William Faulkner wrote that "...I think, next to Heart of Darkness by Conrad that the first story, 'I'm a Fool,' is the best short story I ever read."
Marching Men is a 1917 novel by American author Sherwood Anderson. Published by John Lane, the novel is Anderson's second book; the first being the 1916 novel Windy McPherson's Son. Marching Men is the story of Norman "Beaut" McGregor, a young man discontented with the powerlessness and lack of personal ambition among the miners of his hometown. After moving to Chicago he discovers his purpose is to empower workers by having them march in unison. Major themes of the novel include the organization of laborers, eradication of disorder, and the role of the exceptional man in society. The latter theme led post-World War II critics to compare Anderson's militaristic approach to homosocial order and the fascists of the War's Axis powers.
Windy McPherson's Son is a 1916 novel by American author Sherwood Anderson. It was published by John Lane as part of a three book contract. Windy McPherson's Son is Sherwood Anderson's first novel.
Tar: A Midwest Childhood is a 1926 fictionalized memoir by American author Sherwood Anderson. It was originally published by Boni & Liveright and has since been republished several times including a 1969 critical edition. The book is made up of episodes in the childhood of Edgar Moorehead. The fictional location of Tar: A Midwest Childhood bears a resemblance to Camden, Ohio where Sherwood Anderson was born, despite him having spent only his first year there. An episode from the book later appeared, in a revised form, as the short story "Death in the Woods" (1933).
The Triumph of the Egg is a 1921 short story collection by the American author Sherwood Anderson. It was Anderson's third book to be published by B.W. Huebsch and his second collection after the successful short story cycle Winesburg, Ohio. The book contains 15 stories preceded by photographs of seven clay sculptures by Anderson's wife at the time, sculptor Tennessee Mitchell, that were inspired by characters in the book.
Chicago Heights is a 2009 film written and directed by Daniel Nearing. This experimental, non-linear film is an ambitious adaptation of Sherwood Anderson’s short story cycle, Winesburg, Ohio. Noted film critic Roger Ebert included Chicago Heights in his list of the Top Art Films of 2010.
Daniel Nearing is a Chicago, Illinois-based director, screenwriter, and independent filmmaker. Hogtown, his "period-less" American film, has been called "the most original film made in Chicago about Chicago to date" and named one of the 10 Best Films of 2016 by Ben Kenigsberg, who reviewed the film for The New York Times. Nearing was named the inaugural Filmmaker in Residence for the City of Chicago and Chicagoan of the Year for Film (2016–17) by the Chicago Tribune
Thaddeus Baker Hurd was an architect and historian who is known for his interest and extensive research in the history of the city of Clyde, Ohio, United States. Hurd had several jobs in the field of architecture until his retirement in 1967. He was the founder of the Clyde Heritage League, a historical society. His work was contributed to several museums and libraries.
Ben Collins-Sussman is an American software engineer, composer, and author. He is the co-creator of the Subversion version control system, co-composer of the musicals Eastland, and Winesburg, Ohio, and co-author of two books on software and management. He co-created two interactive fiction games, Rover's Day Out and Hoosegow. Collins-Sussman lives and works in Chicago, Illinois.