Beyond the Grotesque: Relationships Between Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio and Mccullers' the Heart Is a Lonely Hunter

Abstract

The few critics who have commented on a possible link between The Heart Is i!. Lonely Hunter and Winesburg, .QhiQ. only go so far as to say that McCullers' use of the grotesque is in the same tradition asAnderson's; however, I believe the relationship between the two works is much stronger. McCullers is known to have been influenced in some of her writings by other works. For example, her reading of D. H. Lawrence's "The Prussian Officer" led her a few years later to write Reflections in a Golden Eye, according to many critics and biographers. My intention is to show the numerous parallels between Heart andWinesburg and, in doing this, suggest that Anderson's Winesburg may have been the dominant influence on McCullers' composition of Heart. Even if one remains unconvinced of the existence of any direct influence on McCullers by Anderson, the study of the relationships between the two novels does allow for a richer understanding of McCullers' Heart.