Abstract

Winesburg, Ohio is a masterpiece of the famous American novelist Sherwood Anderson. This paper begins with a brief introduction to the author and this novel, and then makes an analysis of the hands in several stories of Winesburg, Ohio, which is used by Sherwood Anderson to make a symbol to express his love for people’s hands, and his nostalgic feeling for the handicraft industry. These hands also deeply expose the essence of life and social conditions of that period. The paper analyzes the good use of symbolism of hands, the profound thought of Sherwood Anderson to explore the significance of Winesburg, Ohio to our own society.
 
Key words:  Sherwood Anderson, hands, handicraft, industrialization, human nature
 
摘 要

美国现代作家舍伍德•安德森是美国享有盛名，承前启后，影响深远的一位伟大作家。《小城畸人》可以说是他最著名最具有代表性的一部短篇小说集。在这部作品中安德森深刻地剖析了世纪之交中美国中西部小镇居民的复杂心理，表达了他对手工业社会的眷恋以及对工业时代人们思想观念和生活习惯巨大改变的疑惑与探索。本文从《小城畸人》中几个对于手有过具体刻画的短篇故事中，分析各个故事中主人公的手的具体含义与最终的命运，安德森是如何将他对于宏大世界的认识与感悟浓缩到小小的手之中的，作者如何通过这一双双手反映了他对时代风貌和生命本质的理解以及从这篇作品中挖掘出的对我们现代生活的一些指导意义。

关键词: 舍伍德•安德森；手；手工业；工业文明；人性

1.    Introduction
1.1 Brief introduction to Sherwood Anderson’s life
Sherwood Anderson (1876–1941) is a famous American novelist and short story writer and has a far-reaching influence in American literary history. He writes some long novels such as Windy McPherson's Son, Winesburg, Ohio and Poor White Trash. In addition to these, he also has many short stories and autobiographical works, for example, The Triumph of the Egg, Death in the Woods, Many Marriages and Dark Laughter. During his lifetime Anderson writes two autobiographical works such as A Story-Teller Story.
After his death, Anderson's reputation soon declined, but in the 1970s, scholars and critics found a new interest in his work. William Cuthbert Faulkner says that Sherwood Anderson is the father of literature in their time. Although Anderson never bears the palm in Nobel and Pulitzer, and only has a classic novel Winesburg, Ohio, he is the most important one with a great influence to the styles and visions of the next generation. Many famous American writers learn a lot from him, like Ernest Hemingway, William Cuthbert Faulkner and Thomas Clayton Wolfe. The famous writers are all sure that Sherwood Anderson is the only tutor in their writing life.