Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters

 aired the week of August 19, 2024

Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters was first published in 1914 and has since become part of the American Literary canon. It is a collection of stories spoken by the dead in a fictionalized Illinois graveyard.  These 244 accounts given by 212 separate characters are written as short free verse poems and serve as epitaphs for the residents of Spoon River, Illinois.  Who would you trust to sum up your life?  This classic work came to my attention when it was mentioned in Monica Wood's How to Read a Book.