Customer Reviews

The Egg and Other Stories (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics)

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4 star:		(1)
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Anytime we get a chance to read something by one of Hemingway and Faulkner's mentors, it's bound to be a unique treat, but this book will surprise you if you haven't read Anderson before. His delicate use of pathos and delicious sense of humor feel so contemporary. We Loved "The Egg" especially as it seemed to capture the American entreprenurial spirit and its often discouraging results with an especially humorous irony. Faulkner was right--short stories require more of a writer, as every word must forward the author's intent, and Anderson's success here proves that, like Hemingway, he may have been a better short story writer than novelist.

I love reading short stories, and I think this is the best collection of stories I've ever read. I hope I get these titles right: I think especially notable are A Death In The Woods, The Corn Planting, Brother Death, The Other Woman, and The Masterpiece. There's not a bad story in here, and there are like 30 stories. I find Anderson's simple prose to be enchanting. His characterization is his strongest point; eighty years ago, he wrote characters to whom I can relate and understand today.

Sherwood Anderson knew the definition of such matters. In 'The Egg' (great story!), he uses allegory storytelling and an egg to create the definition of success in failure in rural America. The 'EGG' is representational of possibilities and oppurtunities, and creating that gilded goal so many look for, and in the story, sometimes lose focus of. A must read!

Sherwood's ghost and his readers may not like the ugly pullet on the cover, but inside is a collection of wonderful writing and story-telling. If you write fiction, read it and learn.

Read "I'm a Fool" and see if Salinger was really so innovative after all.

Read this book. Sherwood Anderson was very good at what he did. The characters are real and covertly full of frustrations that would be difficult to write. The Egg itself is a wonderful story.

In "The Egg" (also known as "The Triumph of the Egg," Sherwood Anderson abandons the unity of place an interrelationships between characters that had been so successful for him in "Winesburg, Ohio." Despite this change, a consistency of thought still makes this collection an important collection in the Sherwood Anderson canon. In addition to the frequently anthologized "I Want to Know Why," "The Egg" exhibits both the simplicity and ambiguity of Anderson's attempts to come to terms with the meaning of life. Other short stories in this Sherwood Anderson collection include "The Dumb Man," "Seeds," "The Other Woman," "Unlighted Lamps," "Senility," "The Man in the Brown Coat," "Brothers," "The Door of the Trap," "The New Englander," "War," "Motherhood," and "Out of Nowhere Into Nothing."

The title story (The Egg, or The Triumph of the Egg) is a powerful one, and an excellent introduction to Anderson for anyone who is unfamiliar. "The Egg" is a widely praised tale where the narrator looks back to his youth. The main character, who is a cheerful farm worker, becomes ambitious to give his boy something better and so buys a chicken farm. The farm fails, after which the man tries to run a restaurant which also fails. The man then makes a pathetic attempt to become an entertainer. The strength of the story is derived from the balance of gross exaggeration and pathos. It balances the mood of a fable with social criticism, and is one of Anderson's best works.

Sherwood Anderson (1876-1941) was an American novelist and short story writer. In addition to "The Egg and Other Stories," he wrote a short story sequence Winesburg, Ohio. Writers he influenced included Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, and John Steinbeck.