Sherwood Anderson was an American novelist and short story writer who lived from September 13, 1876, to March 8, 1941. His works are renowned for being subjective and autobiographical. He was self-taught and worked his way up to success as a copywriter and company owner in Cleveland and Elyria, Ohio. After experiencing a nervous breakdown in 1912, Anderson decided to give up his business and family in order to pursue writing. He later relocated to Chicago and got married three more times after that. The short-story collection Winesburg, Ohio, which launched his career, is his most famous piece of writing. Anderson produced a number of short story collections, novels, memoirs, books of essays, and a book of poetry throughout the 1920s. Dark Laughter (1925), a book that was motivated by Anderson's time spent in New Orleans in the 1920s, was his lone bestseller despite the fact that his novels sold pretty well.