“Born to a poor Ohio family, [Sherwood] Anderson spent his early adult life as a hard-working businessman. He wrote advertising copy in Chicago, managed a mail-order company, and ran a paint factory for five years in Elyria, Ohio. But on November 27, 1912, while dictating to his secretary, he suddenly stopped and mumbled something about his feet being cold and wet and that it was time to walk upon dry ground. At which point he rushed from the office and, following the railroad tracks, made his way to Cleveland, then later to Chicago, and embarked on a new life as a writer. He was forty-three.”

Källa: Michael Dirda i TLS