Stephen Crane was an influential nineteenth century American writer who wrote prolifically throughout the span of his short life. He is highly acclaimed for his contribution to Realistic, Naturalistic and Impressionistic literature. Contemporary writers deem him as one of the innovative and sophisticated literary figures of his time. His novella Maggie: A Girl of the Streets is considered to be a milestone in American literature.
Born on November 1, 1871, in Newark, New Jersey, Crane grew up in the family of ministers and clergymen. He was the last-born among fourteen children. As a child, he was perpetually afflicted by colds which had his father concerned about his health. Despite his health issues, Crane was a child prodigy who learned to read and write even before turning four. It was not until he turned nine, he resumed his schooling. Even though he was enrolled late, he completed his studies worth of two years in six weeks. At the age of 14, he wrote his first recognized short story, “Uncle Jake and the Bell Handle”.
Crane attended a ministry-centered boarding school, Pennington Seminary in 1985. Afterwards, he enrolled at a quasi-military school, Claverack College. His first ever published work was an article on the explorer Henry M. Stanley which he wrote for college’s literary magazine, Vidette. He was then transferred to Lafayette College in Easton, and subsequently to Syracuse University. At both these colleges he concentrated on extra-curricular activities instead of actual studies. He only attended English literature classes and wrote a short story “Great Bugs of Onondaga” published in Syracuse Daily Standard. He lost his interest in writing too at some point and left the college.
He returned to his earlier passion for writing in 1892 as he relocated to New York. He freelanced for Tribune that published several of his fictional stories which later became part of the collection Stephen Crane: Sullivan County Tales and Sketches. He adopted a Bohemian lifestyle and had a first-hand experience of poverty and street life. During his years at Syracuse University, he already started working on his novella Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (1893), although it remained unfinished until he moved to New York. Here he rewrote the novella incorporating details he drew from his street life experience in Bowery. Maggie narrates the story of an innocent and abused girl whose personal circumstances render her to degenerate into a prostitute and eventually lead to her suicide. Crane received several rejections from publishers before he resolved to self-publish the novella under the pseudonym Johnston Smith in 1983. Despite the true-to-life depiction of slum life, the literary work failed to garner positive reviews and left the author broke.
Subsequently, he resurrected his position as a writer with the publication of The Red Badge of Courage in 1895. Moreover, he revised the manuscript for Maggie and had it republished to enormous praise. However, he failed to keep his reputation and again struggled for recognition with his publication of Active Service (1889) and The Third Violet (1897). His short story collection, The Open Boat and Other Tales of Adventure, contains his experiences as a war correspondent during late 1890’s.
Stephen Crane died on June 5, 1900, at the young age of 28, suffering from multitude of diseases he caught during his time slumming in Bowery till his years as a war correspondent. His major literary contributions include The Monster, The Blue Hotel and The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky. Crane had a monumental literary influence on twentieth century Modernists and Imagists.
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