Almost three centuries ago, Alexander Pope wrote:

    "The proper study of mankind is man."

    Pope was aiming high with his "Essay on Man." But his proverb also encapsulates the peculiar attention we all pay to the feats and foibles of the people around us. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the daily interactions of villagers or townspeople.

    This may explain the success of Sherwood Anderson's "Winesburg, Ohio," published in 1919 and No. 23 on the list of the "The 100 Greatest Novels of the 20th Century."

    In it, we peek through our neighbors' windows, as it were, watching them go about their daily lives. Each story, with titles like "The Philosopher--concerning Doctor Parcival" and "Adventure--concerning Alice Hindman," gives insights into a cross-section of people in the fictional town, loosely based on Anderson's own memories of growing up in Clyde, Ohio.

    The plot, such as it is, centers on a George Willard, who, though each story is independent (a technique referred to as a "short-story cycle"), matures psychologically and emotionally until at last he outgrows the town and leaves in the last story, "Departure-- concerning George Willard" (who had in fact been in 16 of the 22 stories).

    We see both George's life and the town's as he goes about his duties as a reporter for the "Winesburg Eagle."

    Despite their independence, the stories interlink like chain mesh. The first story, "Hands," begins with George visiting an old man named Wing Biddlebaum (nicknamed for the way his hands flutter about like a bird). Wing can hear the evening train from his house. At the beginning of the last story we are told, "The trees along the residence streets in Winesburg are maple and the seeds are winged," and George leaves on the morning train on those same tracks.

    It's almost like a puzzle, finding all the bits and pieces that go together. Anderson had written and published a number of the stories independently, and he drastically rewrote them before they were brought together in a single book. One critic discovered almost 200 changes in the manuscript of the first story--which contains less than 2400 words in completed form.

    Vocabulary: Which word above means:

    1. lock together

    2. faults

    3. like cloth made of metal

    4. achievements

    5. odd, unusual

    6. a representative selection

    7. severely

    8. wise saying

    9. encloses, summarizes

    10. hand-written or typed document

    ANSWERS: 1. interlink 2. foibles 3. chain mesh 4. feats 5. peculiar 6. cross-section 7. drastically 8. proverb 9. encapsulates 10. manuscript