In his essay The Modern Writer, Sherwood Anderson notes the beginning of an American literature and its place in American history. As a popular modern writer, he addresses the subject of the craft of writing in 1925. He discusses his experience as a modern American novelist and he advises aspiring writers on the craft.

Anderson advocates sticking to the truth in a non-standardized, original manner. His success and popularity made him qualified to write the essay, a serious effort, fairly easy to relate to, though a bit wordy and churning.

The Modern Writer was Anderson’s second non-fiction work to be published. He has written 44pp.…in order to give the reader their money’s worth.

Sometimes uncertain of what to write about, he considers that America is at the point of the beginning of a national literature.

As I reflected on the essay, I considered an example—Dashiell Hammett was writing detective stories at the time and in 1929 he would publish the hardboiled detective novel—The Maltese Falcon—an original and informative view of the Private Investigator as a pragmatic detective and an interesting look at the art of inquiry into matters of human and criminal behavior, placed in an interesting mystery story full of death and subtle terror.

Though the essay isn’t easy to relate to, it is worth the effort.

As Anderson discusses the American literary landscape and development of writing style, he addresses standardization and its effect on business and the craft of writing. He encourages honesty and simple style.

The first paragraphs are more confusing than enlightening, and I would prefer more literal illustration and description and less wordiness.

At one point he resorts to the diversion of an anecdote about a pacifist’s views and the contemporary attitude toward him as un-American, criticizing the conformity of popular opinion of the modern masses about a man’s personal opinion.

The Modern Writer is a gem of literature and book arts. Collectors will find that the book is beautifully made, but fragile. It is a treasure for its rarity. The publisher—Lantern Press—executed an interesting plan and the Grabhorns were masters of their trade. The boards of the numbered limited edition of one thousand (the first fifty were on Japan vellum and signed by the author) were not well designed for durability a fact which demonstrates the need for preservation and signals an increase of rarity with age.

It is interesting to consider in relation to that of other writers of the time—novelists Fitzgerald, Dos Passos and Hemingway, poets Eliot, Pound, Frost, Stevens and Cummings, and dramatists O’Neill, Williams and Miller.

The reader should certainly delve into this Open Library edition and purchase the book if so inclined.