WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:09.179 --> 00:00:14.650 [Aaron Purcell] That in the beginning when the world was young there were a great many thoughts 00:00:14.650 --> 00:00:21.700 but no such thing as a truth. Man made the truths himself and each truth was a 00:00:21.700 --> 00:00:27.849 composite of a great many vague thoughts. All about in the world were the truths 00:00:27.849 --> 00:00:33.790 and they were all beautiful. These beautiful words come from the Book of 00:00:33.790 --> 00:00:39.549 the Grotesque, the first chapter of Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio. 00:00:39.549 --> 00:00:43.570 So good evening and thank you for joining us to commemorate and remember the 00:00:43.570 --> 00:00:48.280 beautiful truths of Sherwood Anderson. My name is Aaron Purcell. I serve as Director 00:00:48.280 --> 00:00:52.239 of Special Collections here at Virginia Tech. When I arrived at Blacksburg about 00:00:52.239 --> 00:00:56.729 a dozen years ago, I took an immediate interest in Sherwood Anderson, 00:00:56.729 --> 00:01:01.510 especially his connections to the school and to the region. It took several years 00:01:01.510 --> 00:01:06.100 to locate others with the same interest, and even more years to find original 00:01:06.100 --> 00:01:12.009 material to add to the collections here at Virginia Tech. But as I look at this 00:01:12.009 --> 00:01:17.500 room, I can see those efforts were not made in vain and perhaps this moment is 00:01:17.500 --> 00:01:22.570 a reawakening of all things, or well maybe some things, all related to 00:01:22.570 --> 00:01:28.030 Sherwood Anderson. This lecture is part of that reawakening. First, it marks the 00:01:28.030 --> 00:01:32.789 hundredth anniversary of Winesburg, Ohio, which is his first major book. 00:01:32.789 --> 00:01:38.770 Second, it recognizes the publication of Dr. Welford B. Taylor's Requiem for a 00:01:38.770 --> 00:01:44.770 Wonder: Sherwood Anderson's Last Days, which was published by VT Publishing. 00:01:44.770 --> 00:01:48.390 This is a copy, please take some from the back table when you're finished. 00:01:48.390 --> 00:01:53.079 And finally this moment represents a wonderful opportunity to highlight the 00:01:53.079 --> 00:01:56.950 Anderson collections and the exhibits maintained by the University Libraries 00:01:56.950 --> 00:02:01.030 here at Virginia Tech. We have a few items on display here. Also in front of 00:02:01.030 --> 00:02:04.030 Special Collections are a few more. If you happen to be here tomorrow and you 00:02:04.030 --> 00:02:07.390 would like to look at more of the original material, we love to show you. 00:02:07.390 --> 00:02:10.869 Before introducing our speaker, I wanted to acknowledge the supporters of this 00:02:10.869 --> 00:02:14.830 initiative and this evening in particular. So there were a lot of moving 00:02:14.830 --> 00:02:21.040 parts, especially in the University Libraries. Sita Williams, you're way back 00:02:21.040 --> 00:02:26.230 here, she organized the refreshments and planned this event. I think the 00:02:26.230 --> 00:02:31.780 alcohol would make Sherwood happy. Maybe more would make him happier. 00:02:31.780 --> 00:02:36.880 Brittany Dodson, she made room arrangements for the University Libraries. 00:02:36.880 --> 00:02:42.910 Peter Potter he arranged for the layout and the publication of Requiem for a Wonder. 00:02:42.910 --> 00:02:48.340 Kira Dietz created the exhibits and also was the contact person for 00:02:48.340 --> 00:02:53.019 multiple questions outside of the library. We had other partners as well. 00:02:53.019 --> 00:02:57.430 Dr. Ashley Reed from the English department supported this collecting 00:02:57.430 --> 00:03:02.470 area and is with us tonight. Alison Hinderliter, who is not here, is 00:03:02.470 --> 00:03:06.220 the curator of modern manuscripts at the Newberry Library, and she supplied 00:03:06.220 --> 00:03:09.430 content for some of our online exhibitions, so please take a look at 00:03:09.430 --> 00:03:17.160 those which Kira helped to build. Margie Maudlin 00:03:17.160 --> 00:03:22.350 Margie Maudlin, we were expecting her from Christiansburg, she loaned some 00:03:22.350 --> 00:03:26.310 photographs and other material for the collection to support the exhibit and 00:03:26.310 --> 00:03:31.860 the digital exhibit. And finally I'd like to thank Dr. Welford B. Taylor 00:03:31.860 --> 00:03:35.430 for reaching out to me last fall about his idea for doing something with his essay. 00:03:35.430 --> 00:03:40.170 This idea unfolded in what you'll hear tonight as well as what you'll see 00:03:40.170 --> 00:03:43.260 in the days to come. I first met our speaker in the spring of 00:03:43.260 --> 00:03:47.580 2015. I was on research leave and a bit more flexible with scheduling so I 00:03:47.580 --> 00:03:52.290 visited he and his wife Carol in Richmond to discuss a lifetime or at 00:03:52.290 --> 00:03:55.710 least his lifetime with Sherwood Anderson. From that time I've known him 00:03:55.710 --> 00:04:01.470 as W.D. but there's much more behind those initials. Welford Dunaway Taylor was born 00:04:01.470 --> 00:04:05.250 in Caroline County Virginia. He received a bachelor's and master's degree from 00:04:05.250 --> 00:04:08.580 the University of Richmond and then he earned his PhD in English from the 00:04:08.580 --> 00:04:13.380 University of Maryland. His dissertation focused on Sherwood Anderson and his 00:04:13.380 --> 00:04:17.610 research put him in direct contact with Anderson's associates and family, 00:04:17.610 --> 00:04:21.870 especially Anderson's widow, Eleanor Copenhaver and Virginia Tech faculty 00:04:21.870 --> 00:04:26.190 including Dr. Charlie Maudlin and Dr. Hilbert Campbell. He spent the majority 00:04:26.190 --> 00:04:29.910 of his career in the English department at the University of Richmond, serving as 00:04:29.910 --> 00:04:35.580 chair of the department and as the James H. Bostwick chair of English. About 15 00:04:35.580 --> 00:04:39.030 years ago he stepped down from that post to serve as emeritus professor of 00:04:39.030 --> 00:04:43.950 English at the University of Richmond. Throughout his academic career he published or 00:04:43.950 --> 00:04:49.020 edited over a dozen books and countless articles related to Anderson, woodcut 00:04:49.020 --> 00:04:54.630 artist J.J. Lankes, and Robert Frost. His most recent publication, Requiem for 00:04:54.630 --> 00:04:59.730 a Wonder, discusses the details that led to Anderson's unexpected death in 1941. 00:04:59.730 --> 00:05:03.460 And you'll notice there are no toothpicks that are connected to the food. 00:05:03.460 --> 00:05:08.620 We had to make sure that was clear. This evening however we're not talking about 00:05:08.620 --> 00:05:12.370 toothpicks at least I don't think so he'll be speaking about what we remember 00:05:12.370 --> 00:05:17.800 the most about Sherwood Anderson and why he deserves to be remembered. It's my honor 00:05:17.800 --> 00:05:26.744 to welcome Dr. Welford B. Taylor. Thank you. [Applause] 00:05:26.744 --> 00:05:32.110 [Welford B. Taylor] I'm sure you're all familiar with 00:05:32.110 --> 00:05:40.080 Emily Dickinson's poem, tell all the truth but tell it slant. Well you're 00:05:40.080 --> 00:05:45.370 hearing from me on the slant tonight but whether hearing the truth or not of 00:05:45.370 --> 00:05:55.300 something else entirely. But anyway I'll do my best to convey to you some ideas 00:05:55.300 --> 00:06:04.980 that I have come to appreciate over the years regarding Sherwood and I will also 00:06:04.980 --> 00:06:11.950 embellish these not in the way we embellish truth many of us but I'll 00:06:11.950 --> 00:06:18.100 embellish them with some very pleasant memories, memories that I think 00:06:18.100 --> 00:06:26.680 are important. As Aaron mentioned to you a minute ago the as a matter of fact I 00:06:26.680 --> 00:06:30.970 think if there is a theme to what I'm going to be speaking to you about it is 00:06:30.970 --> 00:06:38.650 memory. Memory in various manifestations and memories that I think are relevant 00:06:38.650 --> 00:06:46.110 to the occasion that we've gathered for this evening. First if I may be permitted 00:06:46.110 --> 00:06:53.080 I'm going to indulge very quickly you know a private memory that means a great 00:06:53.080 --> 00:06:57.820 deal to me and it has a certain relevance to you and that is that the 00:06:57.820 --> 00:07:05.380 last time I was on this campus was in 1991 when even then Virginia Tech 00:07:05.380 --> 00:07:11.100 was showing a strong interest in Sherwood Anderson. They hosted 00:07:11.100 --> 00:07:17.220 on that in that year a conference titled Sherwood Anderson after 50 years, 00:07:17.220 --> 00:07:22.980 of course commemorating the 50th anniversary of Sherwood's death and it 00:07:22.980 --> 00:07:31.920 afforded an ideal forum in which to reflect on how his reputation was faring 00:07:31.920 --> 00:07:38.100 after 50 years it gave an opportunity for people who had actually known him to 00:07:38.100 --> 00:07:47.430 be here and to share their reminiscences of their interactions with him it also 00:07:47.430 --> 00:07:54.420 gave an opportunity for people from various parts of America and from 00:07:54.420 --> 00:08:00.660 certain foreign countries to come and give up-to-date interpretations of 00:08:00.660 --> 00:08:05.580 various aspects of his work it was really very wonderful time and the 00:08:05.580 --> 00:08:10.980 reason that I'm recalling it this evening is both because I remember it 00:08:10.980 --> 00:08:17.640 very fondly and because it was sponsored by two of the finest gentlemen that I 00:08:17.640 --> 00:08:23.430 ever knew in the academic business and they were Charles Maudlin and Hilbert 00:08:23.430 --> 00:08:29.870 Campbell and so I think that in some capacity or I pray that in some capacity 00:08:29.870 --> 00:08:38.660 they are with us as I remember them with great fondness on this occasion 00:08:38.820 --> 00:08:45.990 it's a funny thing about reputations literary reputations in America I think 00:08:45.990 --> 00:08:52.580 they fluctuate and change faster than they do in any other society 00:08:52.580 --> 00:09:01.410 particularly is this true since in in this age of course of the various 00:09:01.410 --> 00:09:09.450 electronic media we could get the word around very quickly if someone is out of 00:09:09.450 --> 00:09:15.540 favor it's quickly known or if someone suddenly becomes relevant again that's 00:09:15.540 --> 00:09:23.220 quickly known as well and over the years Sherwood's reputation has undergone has 00:09:23.220 --> 00:09:29.330 undergone fluctuations that for those of us who have consistently admired him and 00:09:29.330 --> 00:09:40.050 read him and taught him we find hard to take quite frankly when I first became 00:09:40.050 --> 00:09:48.980 interested in the subject in the mid 1960s his reputation was really growing 00:09:48.980 --> 00:09:55.050 in I say really growing in the sense that it would he was being revived the 00:09:55.050 --> 00:09:59.520 first world war that the second world war had represented a kind of watershed 00:09:59.520 --> 00:10:06.180 in American scholarship and there were a number of writers that were being sort 00:10:06.180 --> 00:10:12.000 of rediscovered after the war. F. Scott Fitzgerald was one for example and 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:18.180 Sherwood was another. And one assumed that this growing interest would 00:10:18.180 --> 00:10:23.820 continue and indeed it did for a couple of decades and then it began to fall off 00:10:23.820 --> 00:10:29.790 and then it was more or less rekindled after another decade and then it began 00:10:29.790 --> 00:10:37.650 to fall off again and so you never say never of course when you look at this 00:10:37.650 --> 00:10:42.720 process but nonetheless the process cannot be gainsaid 00:10:42.720 --> 00:10:47.760 I mean it is with us and we sort of have to live with it. 00:10:47.760 --> 00:10:54.880 But I would like to address this evening three aspects of the Sherwood's life or 00:10:54.880 --> 00:10:59.320 three segments of Sherwood's life which I don't think have ever gone completely 00:10:59.320 --> 00:11:06.910 out of the cultural memory of our country and I don't think they ever will 00:11:06.910 --> 00:11:16.720 because I think that they have a kind of literary cachet about them and because 00:11:16.720 --> 00:11:23.140 they are so unusual and because they coalesced in a truly unique and 00:11:23.140 --> 00:11:27.820 memorable man who did who left an imprint on American literature that I 00:11:27.820 --> 00:11:35.589 truly believe is indelible I would like to sort of refresh our memory this 00:11:35.589 --> 00:11:41.260 evening by focusing on them at cosmic just maybe because we have so many and 00:11:41.260 --> 00:11:46.570 Estonians in the room this evening we have taken some of these for granted and 00:11:46.570 --> 00:11:55.680 so I want to refresh the memory of these these three events in his life the first 00:11:55.680 --> 00:12:01.870 that I would like to address is perhaps the least literary of all because it's 00:12:01.870 --> 00:12:07.360 really a kind of commonplace occurrence in many people's lives in many people's 00:12:07.360 --> 00:12:16.180 life it is the idea of crisis and the reason that I'm focusing on a crisis 00:12:16.180 --> 00:12:23.520 here is that insurance case the most challenging crisis of his life occurred 00:12:23.520 --> 00:12:30.540 when he was trying to make the transition from his former life as a 00:12:30.540 --> 00:12:39.550 businessman an advertising copywriter into the career or into the life of a 00:12:39.550 --> 00:12:49.810 writer and that is a tremendous lead no matter how you cut it it is a difficult 00:12:49.810 --> 00:12:55.120 thing to do and it took years for sure what to accomplish it 00:12:55.120 --> 00:13:04.400 and yet I we all know that he did quite successfully but he did it in a very 00:13:04.400 --> 00:13:10.850 memorable and dramatic way let me explain just a little III think 00:13:10.850 --> 00:13:18.380 that overall and the record is not for fuse on this subject but here and there 00:13:18.380 --> 00:13:25.460 you pick up the fact that over a number of years probably eight or eight to ten 00:13:25.460 --> 00:13:33.170 years Sherwood had really entertained the dream tried to follow the dream and 00:13:33.170 --> 00:13:38.570 bring it to fruition of becoming a writer he had a lot of responsibilities 00:13:38.570 --> 00:13:44.420 in life that didn't have anything to do with literature or the world of or the 00:13:44.420 --> 00:13:52.060 world of letters but nonetheless it was attractive to him and it was a goal 00:13:52.060 --> 00:13:59.330 number of years ago there was a gentleman by the name of Ray Lewis white 00:13:59.330 --> 00:14:05.510 and he wrote in an introduction to one of his books on Sherwood this simple 00:14:05.510 --> 00:14:14.330 declarative sentence I believe ingenious because one a certain night in a certain 00:14:14.330 --> 00:14:23.230 room in Chicago an advertising executive disillusioned with his current job 00:14:23.230 --> 00:14:33.620 despairing of what his future might be created a story that became 00:14:33.620 --> 00:14:41.180 a landmark I'm paraphrasing obviously but there was genius there is what I'm 00:14:41.180 --> 00:14:45.650 trying to tell you there was the spark there simply was not the means of 00:14:45.650 --> 00:14:55.070 bringing it to a flame and this did this was what took so very very long but I 00:14:55.070 --> 00:15:01.279 think that as a certain American politician once reminded us nothing 00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:06.200 takes the place of persistence and sherwin wood was nothing if not 00:15:06.200 --> 00:15:15.620 persistent and so over this period of time the he tried experimented kept 00:15:15.620 --> 00:15:24.470 trying kept experimenting until that wonderful moment that there when he said 00:15:24.470 --> 00:15:29.930 look something's got to give here I've either got to decide whether I'm going 00:15:29.930 --> 00:15:35.839 to be a writer or I have to decide whether I'm going to continue as a 00:15:35.839 --> 00:15:41.000 businessman and try to balance the two or what have you all this came to crisis 00:15:41.000 --> 00:15:48.820 in the fall of 1912 when Sherwood experienced a kind of episode that 00:15:48.820 --> 00:15:56.209 psychiatrists tell us is a fugue episode the the tension became so great that he 00:15:56.209 --> 00:16:04.550 simply I guess we'd say tuned out or phased out this was indeed a crisis and 00:16:04.550 --> 00:16:10.220 I think he knew it and I think he knew he had to make a decision after four 00:16:10.220 --> 00:16:13.880 days of sort of aimless wandering nobody knew where he was 00:16:13.880 --> 00:16:19.089 none of his family knew where he was he was found taken to a hospital and 00:16:19.089 --> 00:16:28.400 brought back to sort of reality and from that point on of course he the decision 00:16:28.400 --> 00:16:33.770 was made more or less made for him within weeks he left the place where 00:16:33.770 --> 00:16:41.209 this episode had occurred and head for Chicago with his goal firmly in mind 00:16:41.209 --> 00:16:49.229 now a good long time for this for this goal to be fully realized he thought he 00:16:49.229 --> 00:16:53.299 could do it he didn't know how close he was to making it happen 00:16:53.299 --> 00:17:00.599 but he went absolutely bound and determined to persist in his efforts to 00:17:00.599 --> 00:17:10.799 do so and finally one evening in the winter of 1915 16 while he was living in 00:17:10.799 --> 00:17:17.059 a single room in a boarding house in a rooming house on Cass Street in Chicago 00:17:17.059 --> 00:17:27.240 he finally broke through he finally had that moment which is really the second 00:17:27.240 --> 00:17:33.539 largest event of his life and the one that we remember very much along with 00:17:33.539 --> 00:17:43.710 with the crisis and that was really an epiphany and it was a breakthrough in 00:17:43.710 --> 00:17:50.789 which he knew that he had produced what he was capable of producing he had 00:17:50.789 --> 00:17:56.580 believed in his own individual talent in his own individual genius he had had the 00:17:56.580 --> 00:18:04.289 guts to pursue it relentlessly and he was finally at that moment realizing the 00:18:04.289 --> 00:18:11.879 result I don't know that this is paralleled in the life and career of any 00:18:11.879 --> 00:18:18.230 other American writer at least none that I can think of it to me 00:18:18.230 --> 00:18:26.250 tempted to say it's unique if it isn't unique it's among such a few cases that 00:18:26.250 --> 00:18:33.379 it's one we can't forget because it simply happened in that way in that 00:18:33.379 --> 00:18:41.370 marvelous miraculous I have often thought as as a teacher 00:18:41.370 --> 00:18:46.230 over many years that there's nothing that really can take the place of 00:18:46.230 --> 00:18:55.830 natural talent that god-given ability to be born with something that you know is 00:18:55.830 --> 00:19:03.690 worthwhile and that you want to exploit that you want to develop that you want 00:19:03.690 --> 00:19:10.350 to bring to fruition and he is perhaps the best example that I can think of in 00:19:10.350 --> 00:19:16.440 our literary culture of that happening it was as a matter of fact the 00:19:16.440 --> 00:19:23.090 difficulties that he underwent in order to experience this epiphany are 00:19:23.090 --> 00:19:32.280 virtually unparalleled as far as I know well this is pretty outstanding isn't it 00:19:32.280 --> 00:19:40.290 I don't think we forget we I don't think we should ever forget a person who is 00:19:40.290 --> 00:19:47.430 able to do this who is born with these unique gifts and then realize them as 00:19:47.430 --> 00:19:57.120 fully as as sure we did so these are two of the components of Sherwood's life 00:19:57.120 --> 00:20:04.980 which I think are remembered not by everybody but broadly remembered simply 00:20:04.980 --> 00:20:11.000 because they stand out as being so very unusual 00:20:11.000 --> 00:20:18.710 and then there is a final event and I suppose it's hard to know what to call 00:20:18.710 --> 00:20:25.550 that mannan but I decided that I would call it catastrophe because it's what 00:20:25.550 --> 00:20:32.840 happened at the end and catastrophe of jouvert associated cost with great 00:20:32.840 --> 00:20:43.070 tragedy and it usually derives from a flaw some description money hubris some 00:20:43.070 --> 00:20:51.230 weakness some retro retro bution from some past perfidy committed by either 00:20:51.230 --> 00:20:56.810 the protagonist or his members of his family before him and he's become an 00:20:56.810 --> 00:21:02.090 instrument of the gods and undergoes destruction at the end this catastrophe 00:21:02.090 --> 00:21:08.270 I would say that the catastrophe that I have in mind with in the case of 00:21:08.270 --> 00:21:14.810 Sherwood if it's right to call it a catastrophe was more or less well an 00:21:14.810 --> 00:21:21.500 appointment in Samarra this it didn't happen because there was any great flaw 00:21:21.500 --> 00:21:27.360 in Sherwood it didn't happen because he deserved 00:21:27.360 --> 00:21:34.870 this destruction at the end it happened when he was experienced in life at the 00:21:34.870 --> 00:21:44.890 very very full like the myth the merchant in Baghdad is told by his 00:21:44.890 --> 00:21:50.559 servant that the servant has seen death in the marketplace and so the merchant 00:21:50.559 --> 00:21:56.610 says well you should go to Samara and escape death later in the day the 00:21:56.610 --> 00:22:01.750 merchant himself goes to the marketplace and he sees death and he said I saw a 00:22:01.750 --> 00:22:08.830 servant early on and the other person says yes he said well a lot of surprised 00:22:08.830 --> 00:22:13.210 to see him here because I have an appointment with him later today in 00:22:13.210 --> 00:22:22.260 Samara well that's sort of the way it was with Sherwood what happened in the 00:22:22.260 --> 00:22:28.539 imbibing of the faithful martini was certainly not anything that Sherwood 00:22:28.539 --> 00:22:38.980 deserved or that he planned as a matter of fact it has ironic aspects to it if 00:22:38.980 --> 00:22:43.630 at the very least because here he was enjoying himself looking forward to the 00:22:43.630 --> 00:22:50.980 next episode in his life which was this trip to South America and then this 00:22:50.980 --> 00:22:53.250 happiness 00:22:53.250 --> 00:23:02.310 faked vato appointment in Samarra and so it is that if sure what Anderson is not 00:23:02.310 --> 00:23:13.920 remembered for the crisis that drove him finally into pursuit of authorship or 00:23:13.920 --> 00:23:20.550 for the Epiphany with which it was actually brought into reality he is very 00:23:20.550 --> 00:23:27.530 often cited and remembered for the final episode in his life that ended that life 00:23:27.530 --> 00:23:35.000 I've always thought that this final episode the catastrophe if you will was 00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:45.510 well a very sad thing that of course a very sad thing but it was made doubly so 00:23:45.510 --> 00:23:54.300 because Sherwood loved life so much he truly did we hear of disillusioned 00:23:54.300 --> 00:24:01.430 authors we hear of the lost generation authors we hear authors who are unhappy 00:24:01.430 --> 00:24:10.500 sad who live tragic lives for whatever reason but not Sherwood as a matter of 00:24:10.500 --> 00:24:18.950 fact in the fall of 1935 Sherwood was wrote a letter to a friend of his 00:24:18.950 --> 00:24:26.960 juergen Phillips who was the companion of the sculptor horn Eric 00:24:26.960 --> 00:24:35.450 and he talks about several authors that he and Miriam or Mimzy caller had 00:24:35.450 --> 00:24:39.049 discussed in the last meeting and he said I've had some more thoughts about 00:24:39.049 --> 00:24:44.059 our conversation and about these people who sort of run off these writers who 00:24:44.059 --> 00:24:49.510 run off the rails they become cynical they become disillusioned 00:24:49.510 --> 00:24:57.789 they said I think what a writer has to do is he has to keep that inner laughter 00:24:57.789 --> 00:25:05.450 by which he meant that a writer has to be happy with himself with that inner 00:25:05.450 --> 00:25:13.760 sense of self did that about which he can be confident and which he can of 00:25:13.760 --> 00:25:19.940 course enjoy and he said that's so very important and the last sentence of a 00:25:19.940 --> 00:25:27.740 letter not an exact quote again please indulge me here but he said Jesus when I 00:25:27.740 --> 00:25:36.309 think about this thing life even at its worst sometimes I wish I could have a 00:25:36.309 --> 00:25:43.760 thousand years of it this was the man who had the appointment it's love what 00:25:43.760 --> 00:25:49.279 and so it makes it doubly poignant it seems to me when we see it in light of 00:25:49.279 --> 00:25:59.809 this celebration of life and so I think it important that we remember if nothing 00:25:59.809 --> 00:26:07.399 else these highlights and I really don't think that we that we as a culture will 00:26:07.399 --> 00:26:14.419 ever forget again sure what sure what reputation may rise it may fall but 00:26:14.419 --> 00:26:20.039 there will always be people who I think are fascinated 00:26:20.039 --> 00:26:29.580 by these events so unique individually that coalesced so miraculously in this 00:26:29.580 --> 00:26:35.239 most unusual man and artist 00:26:36.519 --> 00:26:44.769 I've been at the job a fair amount of years and I'm often past question if you 00:26:44.769 --> 00:26:49.989 had to choose one incident in your various interactions with Sherwood 00:26:49.989 --> 00:26:55.599 Anderson what would you choose well you know it's like the old question about 00:26:55.599 --> 00:27:04.389 which one of your children and so I have to say well I could choose any number I 00:27:04.389 --> 00:27:11.469 could choose dozens because so many have been memorable and so many have made a 00:27:11.469 --> 00:27:21.429 profound impact on me so many are part of my memory and I think that there are 00:27:21.429 --> 00:27:28.259 many other people of course who whose interactions with Sherwood probably are 00:27:28.259 --> 00:27:37.179 superseded by but nonetheless I'd like to remember an incident that may sound a 00:27:37.179 --> 00:27:44.639 little offbeat and occurred in the summer of 1994 and 00:27:44.639 --> 00:27:51.820 we were in Paris that summer to attend a conference an international conference 00:27:51.820 --> 00:28:02.789 on Hemingway and Fitzgerald and I was and I delivered a paper there on 00:28:02.789 --> 00:28:08.979 Sherwood's connection to Hemingway that horrid incident that had to do with 00:28:08.979 --> 00:28:17.109 Hemingway's cruel send-up of Sherwood's novel dark laughter in a book called the 00:28:17.109 --> 00:28:22.839 torrents of spring and which is certainly Hemingway's the least known 00:28:22.839 --> 00:28:30.440 book and for good reason I shouldn't but nonetheless there we were and so I 00:28:30.440 --> 00:28:38.269 sort of took Sherwood to Paris that summer for the fourth time he'd been 00:28:38.269 --> 00:28:44.659 there three times while he was alive when I thought well this is actually the 00:28:44.659 --> 00:28:49.369 fourth time that Sherman has been brought to Paris because the first time 00:28:49.369 --> 00:28:54.830 he went he was brought there by his good friend Paul Rosenfeld Sherwood had won 00:28:54.830 --> 00:29:00.950 the diol award that year for his short stories and Paul Rosenfeld that said 00:29:00.950 --> 00:29:07.359 let's celebrate I'm going to Paris won't you come and Sherwood said yes and 00:29:07.539 --> 00:29:13.879 Rosenfeld tells the story that on one occasion ever the Sherwood was just 00:29:13.879 --> 00:29:19.419 overwhelmed I mean Paris it was just too much more he was floored and they were 00:29:19.419 --> 00:29:23.509 visiting the Louvre and they were crossing the court and he looked around 00:29:23.509 --> 00:29:28.639 and Sherwood wasn't there and he looked back and Sherwood was leaning against 00:29:28.639 --> 00:29:37.129 the statue he was crying and he said what's wrong and he said I didn't think 00:29:37.129 --> 00:29:44.349 anything could ever be this beautiful he said and so I guess I had that in mind 00:29:44.349 --> 00:29:49.579 that at the end of the week after I listened to all these papers about 00:29:49.579 --> 00:29:55.489 Hemingway and Fitzgerald and I hadn't been able to inject Sherwood into the 00:29:55.489 --> 00:29:59.719 dial into the conversation during the weekend I felt pretty good about that 00:29:59.719 --> 00:30:04.070 because I always thought that Hemingway deserved a little retribution for what 00:30:04.070 --> 00:30:07.180 he did after all the good things that sherbert 00:30:07.180 --> 00:30:14.710 had done for him after the llama and so at the end of the week we decide we 00:30:14.710 --> 00:30:22.290 gives wonderful festive week you know this Pamela Harriman was ambassador to 00:30:22.290 --> 00:30:27.390 France at the time she'd given us a reception I mean it was a wonderful week 00:30:27.390 --> 00:30:32.650 but we ended it in a really funny way an odd way and there were these two 00:30:32.650 --> 00:30:41.890 Americans who had this houseboat ah and on the sand and they used it as a sort 00:30:41.890 --> 00:30:48.010 of entertainment center I mean they catered and they a lot of people rented 00:30:48.010 --> 00:30:55.450 it for weddings or various occasions and so that all of us went to the houseboat 00:30:55.450 --> 00:31:01.570 and you know it's really quite a thing I mean here we were eating American 00:31:01.570 --> 00:31:07.120 barbecue and they were pouring wine under these bladder boxes you know it 00:31:07.120 --> 00:31:11.800 has an oh my lord I mean you know and then I said well maybe that's not so bad 00:31:11.800 --> 00:31:17.950 I saw I remember having seen lo Gao also they know the best known scholar of 00:31:17.950 --> 00:31:23.080 American literature in France with a huge tumbler of this bladder box wine in 00:31:23.080 --> 00:31:29.500 each man this sort of things there's a very happy event at the end but it ended 00:31:29.500 --> 00:31:35.110 in an unusual way that was one of the the people who participated in the 00:31:35.110 --> 00:31:41.200 conference was a professor from Kentucky and he and his wife were sort of amateur 00:31:41.200 --> 00:31:46.210 musicians and they traveled together quite a bit she would go with him to 00:31:46.210 --> 00:31:54.130 conferences and they would sing together and he they had the special guitar made 00:31:54.130 --> 00:32:01.000 a smaller version of a regular guitar which was easier to transport and so 00:32:01.000 --> 00:32:12.399 they played and we all sang and we sang a bit circle be in Brooklyn 00:32:12.399 --> 00:32:20.600 which a good song for Kentuckians to lead us in and indeed most of the people 00:32:20.600 --> 00:32:27.049 there a lot of people didn't know they were the words but have you ever been in 00:32:27.049 --> 00:32:32.690 a situation like that where you don't know the lyrics you couldn't write down 00:32:32.690 --> 00:32:37.730 a verse if someone held a gun to your head and yet somehow you learn them as 00:32:37.730 --> 00:32:43.309 someone who knows them is singing them everybody just gets caught up into it 00:32:43.309 --> 00:32:51.490 and it's they're so into it that if everybody's participating 00:32:51.490 --> 00:32:58.000 and it was one of those really happy moments where Sherman had been given his 00:32:58.000 --> 00:33:03.940 due in the city that he loved and found so beautiful and on that beautiful late 00:33:03.940 --> 00:33:10.920 afternoon evening in June on a sin I remembered Shirley and all the lovely 00:33:10.920 --> 00:33:17.620 experiences that I had had it seemed to culminate for me I think for us that 00:33:17.620 --> 00:33:23.890 evening a the shock will be on Brooke the very fact that you're here today 00:33:23.890 --> 00:33:32.410 tells me that the circle has held fast this circle of those who loved Sherwood 00:33:32.410 --> 00:33:41.880 and my fondest wish is that we'll all help it expand and grow ever stronger 00:33:41.880 --> 00:33:45.480 thank you so much 00:33:50.100 --> 00:33:57.440 I think I'm supposed to answer questions and I will try care 00:33:59.320 --> 00:34:10.630 I have a question oh yes okay well that's good when sure what was going to 00:34:10.630 --> 00:34:14.110 South America yes it was said that he was going there for an indeterminate 00:34:14.110 --> 00:34:19.960 period of time yes and had an editorial project in mind which we write something 00:34:19.960 --> 00:34:26.650 especially is anything known and any detail about what he had planned it was 00:34:26.650 --> 00:34:34.270 a general idea they had he would he was going to write the kinds of journalistic 00:34:34.270 --> 00:34:42.090 pieces that he had been publishing for the last few years in magazines here 00:34:42.090 --> 00:34:50.410 magazines like today The Reader's Digest Redbook I mean in other words articles 00:34:50.410 --> 00:34:55.300 of sort of human interest interesting people interesting towns that he was 00:34:55.300 --> 00:35:01.810 going to visit again in the last few years of his life sure would talk a 00:35:01.810 --> 00:35:07.900 great deal about the significant difference between those who think in 00:35:07.900 --> 00:35:14.500 the large and who think in the small and he said I'm not a man of ideas I'm not 00:35:14.500 --> 00:35:19.290 trying to shape the thinking of Nations or introduce new political thought or 00:35:19.290 --> 00:35:25.090 anything like that he used this example he said I'm interested in how the boy 00:35:25.090 --> 00:35:30.760 and the girl sitting together on the back porch steps on Saturday night get 00:35:30.760 --> 00:35:35.710 along with each other and how they communicate and so it was always the the 00:35:35.710 --> 00:35:40.720 small detail the individual detail and I think he was that's what he had in mind 00:35:40.720 --> 00:35:48.700 that he had pitched this notion to Reader's Digest just before going and he 00:35:48.700 --> 00:35:54.430 said you know I would like to do as I find an interesting subject I'd like to 00:35:54.430 --> 00:35:59.590 do it and send it on to you and he was asking them of course for an advance 00:35:59.590 --> 00:36:04.380 which you needed and they said in so many words well we 00:36:04.380 --> 00:36:09.920 won't give you the advance but we you will certainly perhaps have most favored 00:36:09.920 --> 00:36:18.660 favorable unsolicited status and so I think he was confident that because they 00:36:18.660 --> 00:36:25.369 had publishes they many other magazines at the time it published its matte work 00:36:25.369 --> 00:36:30.540 already that they would be ready for more with that new slant with that from 00:36:30.540 --> 00:36:40.500 that new perspective yes yes so as an editor one of my heroes is max 00:36:40.500 --> 00:36:46.050 Perkins Oh My yes I think about mr. Perkins influence on 00:36:46.050 --> 00:36:54.540 Hemingway and Fitzgerald yes and I wonder I don't know who with anyone who 00:36:54.540 --> 00:36:57.730 played that role sure would 00:36:57.730 --> 00:37:05.819 and if that made a difference in the impact yes 00:37:08.079 --> 00:37:17.259 well well short answers no he did not I mean you have to remember that b/w 00:37:17.259 --> 00:37:22.299 hatch who published you know some of his mood some of his greatest books 00:37:22.299 --> 00:37:27.999 Winesburg horses and men triumph from the egg etc was just a very small 00:37:27.999 --> 00:37:33.640 publisher and so he didn't have that kind of editorial muscle power that you 00:37:33.640 --> 00:37:42.130 described I don't think I can't think of any other of course you did as you know 00:37:42.130 --> 00:37:48.369 publish the play is Winesburg and others with scriveners and max Perkins very 00:37:48.369 --> 00:37:58.089 badly wanted to get their memoirs and he and Harker brace were very much in 00:37:58.089 --> 00:38:02.920 competition with each other and of course just a few weeks before he died 00:38:02.920 --> 00:38:07.989 sure we decided to go not with scribblers and max Perkins but with 00:38:07.989 --> 00:38:18.369 Harker brace and so I don't know what role are or how heavy that the editorial 00:38:18.369 --> 00:38:22.749 and a max Perkins was on the plays that would have been in one place where 00:38:22.749 --> 00:38:29.229 Perkins could have exerted influence but I can't think of any other editor if 00:38:29.229 --> 00:38:34.179 it's kind of a funny thing you know after he published a book he would very 00:38:34.179 --> 00:38:41.469 often go back to it and make editorial changes in his personal copy of of the 00:38:41.469 --> 00:38:48.549 book he did that even with Winesburg though the book is now lost the and well 00:38:48.549 --> 00:38:54.339 there would be a recovered incidentally it was lost in the flood but you know he 00:38:54.339 --> 00:39:03.710 I think was tried to be his own editor and if you if you'll see the the page of 00:39:03.710 --> 00:39:10.940 the first or the-- facsimile of the first manuscript page of the book of the 00:39:10.940 --> 00:39:16.670 grotesque on display here you will see that even in that first paragraph he 00:39:16.670 --> 00:39:22.370 made many he crossed out many words and did an awful lot of his own editorial 00:39:22.370 --> 00:39:27.880 work yes 00:39:30.240 --> 00:39:36.849 picking to be a writer instead of a businessman I think I know I have done 00:39:36.849 --> 00:39:42.369 this sometimes I look back at that and it's like well obviously you'd rather be 00:39:42.369 --> 00:39:47.320 a writer than a businessman because a businessman is yeah 00:39:47.320 --> 00:39:54.260 it's not that special but a long long long long 00:39:54.260 --> 00:40:03.160 I did a Pigman history class about Clio hi Owen 00:40:03.380 --> 00:40:08.600 early 20th century it was evident in there that the businessman at that time 00:40:08.600 --> 00:40:15.170 really held a higher place than we sort of put him today our 00:40:15.170 --> 00:40:21.470 or Paris later during the Depression I the choice by Henderson was was not a 00:40:21.470 --> 00:40:34.910 naughty giving so well no no it really wasn't a gimmick I think he grew up at a 00:40:34.910 --> 00:40:39.050 time when the businessman was much more in freedom or appreciated than the 00:40:39.050 --> 00:40:44.630 artist was so he was sort of going against the grain to start with its 00:40:44.630 --> 00:40:53.060 thinking and not only that but his position as a businessman offered a sort 00:40:53.060 --> 00:41:01.730 of security you know the the possibility of I mean particularly when he owned his 00:41:01.730 --> 00:41:05.870 own business I mean there were good times bad times but I mean basically he 00:41:05.870 --> 00:41:12.290 was able to maintain a very comfortable middle-class life from being a 00:41:12.290 --> 00:41:19.250 businessman so he was launching out into the unknown no question about it and so 00:41:19.250 --> 00:41:25.520 you know in addition to it being a most unusual process it represented a 00:41:25.520 --> 00:41:29.290 tremendous act of courage 00:41:31.790 --> 00:41:36.320 yes that much about Sherwood Anderson but I know that there's a political 00:41:36.320 --> 00:41:41.660 dimension to his life as well yes for example we here at Special Collections 00:41:41.660 --> 00:41:47.600 have a copy of a type of script to us a speech that he gave addressing the 00:41:47.600 --> 00:41:51.950 striking workers in man in Danville I should note that if anyone years and I 00:41:51.950 --> 00:41:57.080 was just wondering if again I hadn't thought about this before but him where 00:41:57.080 --> 00:42:01.520 his politics and all involved in his and all in the choice to give up the life of 00:42:01.520 --> 00:42:05.690 a businessman is there any connection then when did he become political I 00:42:05.690 --> 00:42:14.980 don't know I'm just asking yes I don't think that he really became political 00:42:14.980 --> 00:42:24.010 until possibly in the 20s I I just I you know I I think one one reason for that 00:42:24.010 --> 00:42:31.640 is that when he was a businessman he more or less had bought into the 00:42:31.640 --> 00:42:40.150 business ethos in other words he married his first wife was the daughter of 00:42:40.150 --> 00:42:47.000 a-holes wholesale shoe dealer I mean you know he he aspired to that that 00:42:47.000 --> 00:42:53.020 represented you know two young men of his generation the sort of horatio alger 00:42:53.020 --> 00:43:01.280 notion that you you wanted that was your your goal you know and so as I say I I 00:43:01.280 --> 00:43:08.030 think he believed it and followed it and but something inside him said there's 00:43:08.030 --> 00:43:21.200 something else and so by the mid 1920s he had become really politicized in a 00:43:21.200 --> 00:43:26.600 sense I think one of the reasons was that he had met a number of people in 00:43:26.600 --> 00:43:31.700 New York who were very influential people he got in there Dreiser for 00:43:31.700 --> 00:43:37.859 example it was quite political Waldo Frank for example and Wilson 00:43:37.859 --> 00:43:47.160 these people who really were really were involved in these things and also after 00:43:47.160 --> 00:43:56.819 ww1 and into throughout the 20s Marxism was a very popular philosophy I 00:43:56.819 --> 00:44:04.530 mean there were great many people who believed it was who signed on to it in 00:44:04.530 --> 00:44:09.569 some degree or other there's one letter from Bob Anderson as a matter of fact 00:44:09.569 --> 00:44:14.970 when after sure where he bought the newspapers in which Sherwood owned a 00:44:14.970 --> 00:44:21.630 letter to 2jj Yankees and didn't have time to write and Bob for surely and he 00:44:21.630 --> 00:44:27.720 said all of us are pretty much straight communists now here in the office but 00:44:27.720 --> 00:44:33.809 like a great many American intellectuals by the mid 30s Sherwood was moderating 00:44:33.809 --> 00:44:38.760 his his politics have become far more moderate there's a book of his it's not 00:44:38.760 --> 00:44:44.460 much read and yet I think it's one of his most important on that subject and 00:44:44.460 --> 00:44:51.780 it's called puzzled America and if you read it read it from start to finish 00:44:51.780 --> 00:44:57.119 because it consists of a number of individual essays that had been 00:44:57.119 --> 00:45:02.970 published I believe in Today magazine I don't think so anyway but you put them 00:45:02.970 --> 00:45:10.500 all together and you really trace the sort of turning around of the depression 00:45:10.500 --> 00:45:16.859 in other words the the New Deal programs are beginning to take hold things are 00:45:16.859 --> 00:45:20.910 beginning to improve he's traveling through the south he's watching the TVA 00:45:20.910 --> 00:45:29.400 take shape as watching the CCC boys build whatever roads camps and so his 00:45:29.400 --> 00:45:38.809 faith in America and the American Way of doing things is becoming renewed 00:45:41.359 --> 00:45:44.359 yes 00:45:46.589 --> 00:45:50.309 you may have actually been a result of some sort of that nothing like coffee 00:45:50.309 --> 00:46:04.680 now martini me yes no he said he was golfing them down you know oh no it's 00:46:04.680 --> 00:46:13.680 sort of chug along contest no what happened was he would often get very 00:46:13.680 --> 00:46:20.309 very animated in conversation very excited and they they started his 00:46:20.309 --> 00:46:24.329 brother call was there you know and they were some other first were there and 00:46:24.329 --> 00:46:28.710 they got on the subject of modern writers and he was talking and getting 00:46:28.710 --> 00:46:34.259 excited and freaking one martini after another and Ellender tried to slow him 00:46:34.259 --> 00:46:40.440 down and and he wouldn't take wouldn't listen and so he just on one occasion 00:46:40.440 --> 00:46:48.960 and in all people who the one witness that we have who left the record was his 00:46:48.960 --> 00:46:55.769 older brother call you know the artist KRL Carl Anderson and he said that he 00:46:55.769 --> 00:47:02.930 became he was making a point very emphatic point and he just drank martini 00:47:02.930 --> 00:47:08.789 olive toothpick and all it just went down and you know and one of the things 00:47:08.789 --> 00:47:16.219 you know we I had a really good editor of this essay his name is Peter product 00:47:16.279 --> 00:47:22.229 and and so he said to me one day said you can't swallow it smooth pickup not 00:47:22.229 --> 00:47:26.290 know like what's your ivory tend to agree with 00:47:26.290 --> 00:47:34.880 except that it happens it happens and the doctor who did the autopsy on 00:47:34.880 --> 00:47:40.640 sure wouldn't announce it was it up was a doctor by the name of BH Keene 00:47:40.640 --> 00:47:48.230 Benjamin Harrison Keene and he wrote a book and in the book this chapter called 00:47:48.230 --> 00:47:57.680 the fatal martini and he goes on to cite in medical literature several additional 00:47:57.680 --> 00:48:05.270 cases where this has happened I mean it's it has to have just right don't try 00:48:05.270 --> 00:48:13.250 it at home like that it has to happen just right and it made it almost all the 00:48:13.250 --> 00:48:20.210 way through and became lodged punctured the large intestine and the rest as they 00:48:20.210 --> 00:48:25.120 say is a very sad history yes 00:48:28.730 --> 00:48:32.740 any other question oh yes ma'am 00:48:34.250 --> 00:48:41.540 so I guess another question I have for you as I like you that I really 00:48:41.540 --> 00:48:45.530 appreciated the way you talked about these three major events in showing a 00:48:45.530 --> 00:48:50.060 person's life and I wanted to ask you more about the first event the crisis 00:48:50.060 --> 00:48:55.910 and the kind of change the choice he made interest do you know more about 00:48:55.910 --> 00:48:59.900 what happened to his first wife in children that he left it in that 00:48:59.900 --> 00:49:04.940 gracious act like I just I know that that's part of what happened and I'm 00:49:04.940 --> 00:49:08.510 curious how you personally feel about that he left behind a wife and children 00:49:08.510 --> 00:49:17.000 not exactly what well uh you know they're sketchy at best 00:49:17.000 --> 00:49:25.400 of course the it happened in the 25th of November of 1912 anyway but the end of 00:49:25.400 --> 00:49:33.790 November and and he simply went into 00:49:34.030 --> 00:49:40.490 well that as I say I have a we have a good friend who's a psychiatrist and so 00:49:40.490 --> 00:49:47.990 I asked him about this and I said have you ever had a patient that had a fugue 00:49:47.990 --> 00:49:54.319 episode he said oh yeah this is not then uncommon uh in other words reality gets 00:49:54.319 --> 00:49:57.170 to the point that you can't bear it anymore 00:49:57.170 --> 00:50:02.589 and so this is the minds way of sort of shutting down and you're going to a 00:50:02.589 --> 00:50:09.800 trance-like state using and so for four days he wondered about a suit was dirty 00:50:09.800 --> 00:50:18.980 and torn he'd slept on the riverbank you know that sort of thing and so he they 00:50:18.980 --> 00:50:24.200 put him in a hospital in Cleveland and as I say sir briefly brought him back 00:50:24.200 --> 00:50:29.780 and he realized what had happened and what he was going to do he went on to 00:50:29.780 --> 00:50:36.190 Chicago within a very few weeks one reason he went 00:50:36.190 --> 00:50:41.380 there well two reasons I think that some of you are Midwestern see you know know 00:50:41.380 --> 00:50:47.680 a lot more about it than not i but but Chicago is really the the Polestar city 00:50:47.680 --> 00:50:52.150 of the Midwest of a middle America I mean it's it's the 00:50:52.150 --> 00:50:57.160 magnet it's what draws you just the way sort of the big off of draws us 00:50:57.160 --> 00:51:02.080 Easterners and so he went Chicago but there was a second reason for going 00:51:02.080 --> 00:51:06.430 there and that is that his brother Carl was already there and he could stay with 00:51:06.430 --> 00:51:13.660 Carl and so within probably a month or so I think Cornelia and the three 00:51:13.660 --> 00:51:21.730 children moved to Chicago and continued to live there for a while and after a 00:51:21.730 --> 00:51:30.070 couple of years Sherwood they spent a winter in the Ozark Mountains away from 00:51:30.070 --> 00:51:36.220 everything so he couldn't work what have you and they decided on while they were 00:51:36.220 --> 00:51:45.580 away on that retreat if you will that they would divorce and so she moved with 00:51:45.580 --> 00:51:51.630 the three children to Michigan City which is not all that far from Chicago 00:51:51.630 --> 00:51:57.700 on Lake Michigan of course and sure we continued to the in Chicago and they 00:51:57.700 --> 00:52:03.100 were divorced in 1960 the fugue episode happened in 12 00:52:03.100 --> 00:52:13.690 they devotions 16 and 4 days later he married a second time a woman who was a 00:52:13.690 --> 00:52:16.580 good friend of Cornelius as a matter of fact 00:52:16.580 --> 00:52:27.020 and yes he was married of course four times as we do yes I mean they're there 00:52:27.020 --> 00:52:32.750 this war too it's not a simplistic situation at all and I think all during 00:52:32.750 --> 00:52:39.470 his life you know I have been true to you Senora in my fashion I think he was 00:52:39.470 --> 00:52:46.010 loyal to his children and family in his fashion but they tell some interesting 00:52:46.010 --> 00:52:54.280 stories of father sibling you know interactions and 00:52:56.349 --> 00:53:04.529 any other questions thank you so very much for your