The Book of the Grotesque

3 Pages 799 Words

From the title of first chapter in Winesburg, Ohio, “The Book of the Grotesque”, it is clear to see Sherwood Anderson’s preoccupation with the “grotesque”. But what does “grotesque” mean in Anderson’s fiction? The definitions of grotesque, as offered in the Collins English Mini Dictionary, are ‘strangely distorted’ and ‘absurd’ (1). However, the “grotesques” in Winesburg, Ohio are not necessarily repulsive despite their absurdity.
Malcolm Cowley, in his introduction to Winesburg, Ohio, defined the “grotesques” as ‘solitary persons’ whose lives have been distorted by their inability to express themselves. (2) It is the life experiences that have made the characters in the short stories “grotesques”. Being “grotesque” also means that the ‘figures... are not, nor are they meant to be, “fully-rounded” characters – they are the shards of life, glimpsed for a moment, the debris of suffering and defeat.’ (3) We only see the “grotesques” at the point in their life that they are seeking contact with the world, when they are displaying the characteristics that make them “grotesque”.
David D. Anderson argues that the word “grotesque” does not ‘connote revulsion or disgust’. He compares them to the ‘gnarled, twisted apples’ (4) in “Paper Pills”, which are left behind because of their surface blemishes. The “grotesques” are rejected because they are different but their spiritual ills mean that they require more love and understanding. (5) In addition to this, Edwin Fussel states that the “grotesques” must not be thought of as necessarily unattractive. The truths that lurk within them include positive or neutral properties or conditions such as ‘the truth of virginity and the truth of passion, the truth of wealth and of poverty’. (6) The grotesques are not malicious just confused and afraid. However, as Irving Howe argues, the “grotesques” are not simply...