Windy McPherson's Son (1916) is a novel by Sherwood Anderson. Both
fictional and autobiographical, Anderson's debut novel is a coming of
age story that explores themes of unhappiness and infidelity while
illustrating the frustrations of the son of an abusive father. Although
he is known today for his story collection Winesburg, Ohio, a
pioneering work of Modernist fiction admired for its plainspoken
language and psychological detail, Anderson's Windy McPherson's Son is
a powerful work of fiction that helped establish him as a leading
realist writer of his generation. "At the beginning of the long twilight
of a summer evening, Sam McPherson, a tall big-boned boy of thirteen,
with brown hair, black eyes, and an amusing little habit of tilting his
chin in the air as he walked, came upon the platform of the little
corn-shipping town of Caxton in Iowa." With a cigar in his hand and a
bundle of newspapers under his arm, the young Sam McPherson appears both
overly proud and ambitious for his age. Those that know him, however,
understand that he has no choice. Left to fend for himself by an
alcoholic father, Sam dreams of making a name for himself and escaping
the small town of his birth. When an ill-fated affair with an older
teacher leaves him disgraced, McPherson abandons his father for Chicago,
where he finds work as a purchaser of farming equipment. Soon, he falls
in love with his boss' daughter, the beautiful Sue Rainey. Windy
McPherson's Son is a story of the American Dream, for all of its
difficult truths and convenient fictions. With a beautifully designed
cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Sherwood
Anderson's Windy McPherson's Son is a classic of American literature
reimagined for modern readers.
