Literary critics consider Sherwood Anderson a “pioneer of modernism”. His unique writing style has been the subject of much debate and controversy, because people tend to have very opposing viewpoints on it. Anderson’s supporters thought of his writing style as groundbreaking while his critics considered it unprofessional and elementary. One thing that both his critics and his supporters agree on is that Anderson’s short story, “The Egg”, is a fantastic piece of literature and exemplifies everything that is good about Anderson’s writing style. Anderson’s autobiography, “Sherwood Anderson’s Memoirs”, is also one of a few of his writings that is widely respected. The two pieces of literature, although one is fiction and the other an autobiography, are remarkably similar in style; they both represent the most attractive thing about Anderson’s writing- his ability to simply tell a story that any human can understand and relate to. Sherwood Anderson was a unique writer with impressive storytelling ability. His critics called him “immature” and said that although his first works were decent, he never really grew as an author. They said that his work never improved and that Anderson refused to take advice or positive criticism on his writing. Anderson wrote in his memoir that he chose to not take advice from critics because he did not believe in writing for the critics, he believed in writing for the average person. He wrote that he considered himself to be a very “typical American”, and his writing certainly reflected that belief. In many of his fictional stories like “The Egg” or one of his most famous, “The Hands”, Anderson creates a simple character and throughout the story he reveals their weakness and their selfishness, basic human traits that we all possess. His stories have very few characters, and they rarely have much dialogue. Still, he always manages to show their true personality and make it easy to understand them, to hate them, or to pity them, on a very basic human level. In his personal memoir Sherwood Anderson wrote that he believed “There is a kind of persistent youth in some men and I am one of that sort.” Anderson knew that his writing had not matured, but he simply saw it as his personality, not as a flaw. Anderson’s critics viewed his “youthful” writing as immaturity and a major personal weakness. Many critics disapproved Anderson’s memoirs because his memoirs were actually not completely based in fact. He chose to not include very many things like dates and names, instead his autobiography focused on feeling and ideas that he had at various points throughout his life and how they affected him personally. Supporters argue that although his writing is not the best technical autobiography, it is still a great piece of literature because Anderson tells the story of his life in a way that is relatable to readers, and reveals who he is on a personal level. “The Egg” is written like a memoir and although it is fiction, it gives the reader the impression that it could perfectly well be a true story. Anderson’s characters are very human, with human desires and selfish thoughts that make them much more intriguing than if they were more perfect. There are people who would go so far as to say that Anderson’s writing was a turning point in American literature, and that he paved the way for a new generation of writers like John Steinbeck that wrote about the thoughts, the feelings, and the ideas of actual people. This new way of writing made fiction more about the story being told, and not so much about facts or prose. Anderson may have been an immature writer, but he brought a childlike life into his writing that was a breath of fresh air to readers who were used to much heavier literature