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Maggie: A Girl of the Streets / Lines [Poems]
Stephen Crane's classic first novel, a scandal upon publication, is here paired with his early collection "Lines" – a collection of 68 terse poems of depth and beauty.
Included is a short forward written two years after the publication of "Maggie," that shines a ight on why, at the time, the realism of "Maggie" was both a blessing and a curse for the young Crane.
Included is a short forward written two years after the publication of "Maggie," that shines a ight on why, at the time, the realism of "Maggie" was both a blessing and a curse for the young Crane.
102 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1893
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5083 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Crane
1,442 books1,031 followersStephen Crane (1871-1900) was an American novelist, poet and journalist, best known for the novel, The Red Badge of Courage. That work introduced the reading world to Crane's striking prose, a mix of impressionism, naturalism and symbolism. He died at age 28 in Badenweiler, Baden, Germany.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 655 reviews
July 9, 2019
The novel sets in the Bowery area of New York City, It describes the sordid and almost hopeless existence of Maggie Johnson. As children, she and her brothers are alternately neglected and abused by their drunken parents, and her baby brother Tommie dies as a result of this mistreatment.
January 18, 2021
Ah, wha' deh hell.
March 19, 2021
What men love is sluts. Show a man a poor innocent pretty young girl forced by circumstance or evil into prostitution and he cannot wait to start sighing and what-a-pitying and that-poor-waifing and but-what-was-she-wearinging and it's liable to get pretty maudlin in here by the time she dies. (Wait, she dies? Of course she dies.)
This one, though, is special: this is a landmark in the genre of young and corrupted women, or anyway of realistic novels. It was written in 1892 by Stephen Crane, whom you know from his book Red Badge of Courage, which you read in ninth grade for some reason. Maggie was his first novel, and it's a landmark because, as opposed to, say, Moby-Dick, it's about real people who do real things, and specifically Crane is trying to show how Maggie's environment - her poverty and her alcoholic, abusive family - left her on the highway to degradation with no exits. Which, again, like, that's a noble idea but can no one think of any way to make that point that doesn't involve prostitution?
Give Crane credit, he did his research: his life partner was a for-real brothel madam. He caused a scandal by appearing in court to defend a different prostitute. But you won't get any of that compassion from this book, which presents all its doomed and uneducated characters with a curious load of sarcasm and contempt. They do things like have a dim idea it perhaps "wasn't common courtesy for a friend to come to one's house and ruin one's sister." It may be a landmark, but in the pantheon of Slut Literature there's more sympathy in Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders or Eliza Haywood's Love in Excess, both written almost 200 years earlier, and for that matter in Fanny Hill which is actual porn.
Stephen Crane is a great writer, in his way. He's a great describer of things. The opening to Red Badge of Courage is incredibly powerful. His short story Open Water, based on his own experience of getting shipwrecked and stranded in a rowboat for 30 hours, is basically perfect. But Crane more or less sucks at people: he can't do character arcs and he has no feel for psychology. That makes Maggie, where the whole goal is to describe how a nice person could end up a prostitute, basically a lost cause. The theory here is called naturalism - that idea that one's environment determines one's character - and this is the first American example of it. It's sortof a subgenre of realism, and it was defined by the mighty French author Emile Zola, and once you start comparing Crane to Zola...Crane looks like a shabby slut indeed. Of course - growing up amongst metaphor warriors like Nathaniel Hawthorne, what chance did he have?
This one, though, is special: this is a landmark in the genre of young and corrupted women, or anyway of realistic novels. It was written in 1892 by Stephen Crane, whom you know from his book Red Badge of Courage, which you read in ninth grade for some reason. Maggie was his first novel, and it's a landmark because, as opposed to, say, Moby-Dick, it's about real people who do real things, and specifically Crane is trying to show how Maggie's environment - her poverty and her alcoholic, abusive family - left her on the highway to degradation with no exits. Which, again, like, that's a noble idea but can no one think of any way to make that point that doesn't involve prostitution?
Give Crane credit, he did his research: his life partner was a for-real brothel madam. He caused a scandal by appearing in court to defend a different prostitute. But you won't get any of that compassion from this book, which presents all its doomed and uneducated characters with a curious load of sarcasm and contempt. They do things like have a dim idea it perhaps "wasn't common courtesy for a friend to come to one's house and ruin one's sister." It may be a landmark, but in the pantheon of Slut Literature there's more sympathy in Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders or Eliza Haywood's Love in Excess, both written almost 200 years earlier, and for that matter in Fanny Hill which is actual porn.
Stephen Crane is a great writer, in his way. He's a great describer of things. The opening to Red Badge of Courage is incredibly powerful. His short story Open Water, based on his own experience of getting shipwrecked and stranded in a rowboat for 30 hours, is basically perfect. But Crane more or less sucks at people: he can't do character arcs and he has no feel for psychology. That makes Maggie, where the whole goal is to describe how a nice person could end up a prostitute, basically a lost cause. The theory here is called naturalism - that idea that one's environment determines one's character - and this is the first American example of it. It's sortof a subgenre of realism, and it was defined by the mighty French author Emile Zola, and once you start comparing Crane to Zola...Crane looks like a shabby slut indeed. Of course - growing up amongst metaphor warriors like Nathaniel Hawthorne, what chance did he have?
November 10, 2023
I didn’t hate this one but I also struggled to see the point of it. This little novella took me days when it should have taken mere hours. I found the P.O.V changes interesting. Maggie was so abused and neglected. She messed up once and now she’s ruined. Very puritanical despite it being set in the slums. Everyone sucked except Maggie and she was treated the worst. It was a boring but not terrible read.
June 21, 2025
Rereading Maggie
I have read Steven Crane's short novel, "Maggie: A Girl of the Streets" many times over the years and returned to read it again recently together with Crane's more famous book, "The Red Badge of Courage." Crane wrote "Maggie" in 1891 at the age of 21 and published the book at his own expense in 1893 under the pseudonym Johnston Smith. Some famous writers, including William Dean Howells praised "Maggie" enthusiastically, but for the most part the book was indifferently received.
I have always cared more about "Maggie" than about the "Red Badge of Courage". It is difficult to understand why this is the case, other than perhaps the subject matter, but there have always been readers who also thought this way. It may be due to the intense, sincere character of this book, obviously the product of a young, rebellious man. I still love the book, even though I am older and presumably wiser than when I first read it years ago.
Maggie is set in the New York slums of the Bowery in the late 1890s. The plot is simple. Crane describes a family in the Bowery, the Johnsons, living in the midst of poverty, alcohol, violence, and squalor. For most of the book, the family consists of the alcoholic brutal mother, Mary, her wastrel, philandering son, Jim, and the young, innocently naive daughter, Maggie. Crane says Maggie "blossomed in a mud puddle. She grew to be a most rare and wonderful production of a tenement district, a pretty girl."
Maggie has a spirit-numbing job in a sweatshop. She soon takes up with a rakish bartender and friend of her brother, Pete. Maggie comes to see Pete ideally, as her knight. Pete soon seduces Maggie and her mother, in a show of righteousness, orders her to leave home. Pete summarily jilts Maggie in favor of a prostitute, Nell, with whom he earlier had a relationship. Maggie becomes a prostitute wandering the New York City streets and, within months commits suicide.
This is the bare bones of a common story. Crane's artistry and passion bring the story to life. The passion seethes through the writing even though Crane tell the tale with ironic detachment and frequently with sharp humor.
The book is told in a heavily episodic way in short chapters which may seem disjointed. Most readers at first find the book overwritten in its long descriptive passages and heavy-handed use of violence, brutality, and metaphor on almost every page. There is a sense of exaggeration, almost of caricature, in the depictions of slum life, especially in the many scenes of domestic violence. Much of the writing is fresh and suggestive, parts of it may be less so. It works to capture the environment Crane is describing.
Many readers see "Maggie" as the first work of American naturalism, meaning that the characters are shown as determined by their shocking surroundings in the slums. Other readers, including myself, think that naturalistic character of the book frequently is overstated. In a letter written shortly after the publication of the book, Crane qualified the naturalistic interpretation of the book. He wrote that "Maggie tries to show that environment is a tremendous thing in the world and frequently shapes lives regardless. If one proves that theory one makes room in Heaven for all sorts of souls (notably an occasional street girl) who are not confidently expected to be there by many people,"
The book does not take a position of environmental determinism. Rather, it is an implicit critique of the lives of some people in the slums who criticize others and refuse to work to better themselves. Even more so, it is a critique of the values of the larger society, in matters of sexual morality and in matters of callousness towards the poor and unfortunate. The book is full of religious metaphor and scenes. Crane, the son of a Methodist minister, has little sympathy with religion as practiced, but the message of compassion and forgiveness in the book has strong religious overtones. Maggie herself, while not a fully developed character, is a romantic figure in what is essentially still a romantic novel.
"Maggie" is still widely read and discussed among readers, for all the differences in interpretation of the book and disagreements about its literary quality. The lasting quality, its ability to inspire passion and disagreement, of the book alone makes "Maggie" a substantial achievement for a young writer. The book is readily accessible in various editions, including a Library of America volume devoted to the writing of Steven Crane. I was pleased to reread "Maggie" and to share my thoughts on the book with interested readers.
Robin Friedman
I have read Steven Crane's short novel, "Maggie: A Girl of the Streets" many times over the years and returned to read it again recently together with Crane's more famous book, "The Red Badge of Courage." Crane wrote "Maggie" in 1891 at the age of 21 and published the book at his own expense in 1893 under the pseudonym Johnston Smith. Some famous writers, including William Dean Howells praised "Maggie" enthusiastically, but for the most part the book was indifferently received.
I have always cared more about "Maggie" than about the "Red Badge of Courage". It is difficult to understand why this is the case, other than perhaps the subject matter, but there have always been readers who also thought this way. It may be due to the intense, sincere character of this book, obviously the product of a young, rebellious man. I still love the book, even though I am older and presumably wiser than when I first read it years ago.
Maggie is set in the New York slums of the Bowery in the late 1890s. The plot is simple. Crane describes a family in the Bowery, the Johnsons, living in the midst of poverty, alcohol, violence, and squalor. For most of the book, the family consists of the alcoholic brutal mother, Mary, her wastrel, philandering son, Jim, and the young, innocently naive daughter, Maggie. Crane says Maggie "blossomed in a mud puddle. She grew to be a most rare and wonderful production of a tenement district, a pretty girl."
Maggie has a spirit-numbing job in a sweatshop. She soon takes up with a rakish bartender and friend of her brother, Pete. Maggie comes to see Pete ideally, as her knight. Pete soon seduces Maggie and her mother, in a show of righteousness, orders her to leave home. Pete summarily jilts Maggie in favor of a prostitute, Nell, with whom he earlier had a relationship. Maggie becomes a prostitute wandering the New York City streets and, within months commits suicide.
This is the bare bones of a common story. Crane's artistry and passion bring the story to life. The passion seethes through the writing even though Crane tell the tale with ironic detachment and frequently with sharp humor.
The book is told in a heavily episodic way in short chapters which may seem disjointed. Most readers at first find the book overwritten in its long descriptive passages and heavy-handed use of violence, brutality, and metaphor on almost every page. There is a sense of exaggeration, almost of caricature, in the depictions of slum life, especially in the many scenes of domestic violence. Much of the writing is fresh and suggestive, parts of it may be less so. It works to capture the environment Crane is describing.
Many readers see "Maggie" as the first work of American naturalism, meaning that the characters are shown as determined by their shocking surroundings in the slums. Other readers, including myself, think that naturalistic character of the book frequently is overstated. In a letter written shortly after the publication of the book, Crane qualified the naturalistic interpretation of the book. He wrote that "Maggie tries to show that environment is a tremendous thing in the world and frequently shapes lives regardless. If one proves that theory one makes room in Heaven for all sorts of souls (notably an occasional street girl) who are not confidently expected to be there by many people,"
The book does not take a position of environmental determinism. Rather, it is an implicit critique of the lives of some people in the slums who criticize others and refuse to work to better themselves. Even more so, it is a critique of the values of the larger society, in matters of sexual morality and in matters of callousness towards the poor and unfortunate. The book is full of religious metaphor and scenes. Crane, the son of a Methodist minister, has little sympathy with religion as practiced, but the message of compassion and forgiveness in the book has strong religious overtones. Maggie herself, while not a fully developed character, is a romantic figure in what is essentially still a romantic novel.
"Maggie" is still widely read and discussed among readers, for all the differences in interpretation of the book and disagreements about its literary quality. The lasting quality, its ability to inspire passion and disagreement, of the book alone makes "Maggie" a substantial achievement for a young writer. The book is readily accessible in various editions, including a Library of America volume devoted to the writing of Steven Crane. I was pleased to reread "Maggie" and to share my thoughts on the book with interested readers.
Robin Friedman
August 4, 2010
This book is a treasure, as much for the story of Crane's trying to get it published as for the story itself. I am always drawn to authors' first books. There's often an energy there lost in latter books. The energy and intensity of this story made gave it a momentum that wasn't lost on The Red Badge of Courage but was toned down. I admire the raw honesty of the prose here; there's something alive in it that refuses to be toned down for the audience's sake.
December 11, 2014
This tiny novella, this "shocking portrait" of working class life, might win points for its approach towards capturing the dialect and mileau of the time and place but the overall feeling I took from it was not a call to understand the people that were trodden underfoot by the educated classes but more a sense of humouous observation, almost like these drunks and whores, these scoundrels and brutes are a human zoo fit only for ogling from afar by their betters. There's a fine line between capturing mileau and condescending at how other it all is and I think Crane crosses it very early on with his relentless "attention to detail" and purposeful fatalism. No, I cannot look at this from the point of view of his contemporaries I'm afraid, my jaded educated 21st Century eyes are all I have to lead me in this instance.
May 19, 2021
I wasn't sure how I was going to rate this one ; I can't apply my usual criteria because, while I didn't exactly enjoy it, I have to respect what it does and says as a classic work of literature.
Maggie Johnson, the ostensible protagonist in Stephen Crane’s controversial 1893 novella, exists not “for [her] own sake" (Enlo) but as a pastiche of female functions. For her lover she is a challenge and a conquest. She is an emblem of her mother’s authority and of her brother’s credibility. She is a repository for male desire, a source of carnal pleasure whose sexuality is not her own.
Maggie functions to delineate manifestations of gendered utility, even as she exemplifies the consequences of their forfeiture. Crane illustrates the plight of womanhood in the context of a problematic milieu: in the bowery, womanhood is a dangerous affliction. Thus, female utility is the fundamental difference between girls who disappear and women who survive.
Rather than get into naturalism as a genre and philosophy, I'm going to foreground gender instead.
The first thing I want to address is the relationship between gender binaries, double standards, and Maggie’s figurative, then literal, disappearance. It becomes very clear, very quickly, that utility is a currency which females exchange for survival; Maggie’s fatal descent into superfluity is a consequence of a bankruptcy that is uniquely female.
The young female characters in Crane’s novella operate in a social microcosm wherein Attractiveness, dutifulness, domesticity, or carnal talent can be redeemed for familial or masculine shelter.
That said, I Wouldn’t go so far as to call this a didactic treatise on proper behavior, not even a thinly veiled one. Crane’s bowery is no place for feminist or hegemonic precepts. More specifically, Maggie doesn’t really function to frighten bad little girls into staying good ones. Her story isn't really even meant to castigate patriarchy, not exactly. What Crane is doing is chronicling, rather dispassionately, the experiences of women operating in a misogynist, kill or be killed society.
He isn’t telling all women everywhere to fall back and let men guide, direct, and maintain them, nor does he advocate for or introduce new feminist precepts into the conversation. He isn't using Maggie to demonstrate that all women are dirty whores who'd live longer if they did what men said or, as some have argued, charging men with the deaths of Maggies everywhere.
He is, however,saying that women, essentially, worked harder to survive than men, especially if they were of the working class. After all, they didn't get to sit back, pop out kids, or eat, shop, or vacation on a patriarch’s dime. Unlike their wealthier counterparts, these women were *always* employed and on the clock.
And what jobs were available? Well, women could make a decent living remaining loyal to or reflecting positively on their families, even toxic ones like Maggie’s. They could do quite well as prostitutes. They could capture and maintain the interest of powerful, dangerous and, most importantly, wealthy men.
Bottom line, to survive in Maggie’s society, a woman needed to relinquish everything about herself that wasn’t useful to or pleasing to someone else. Those who couldn’t, or wouldn’t, often wound up drowning in the “mud puddle” that was “rum Alley” (Crane).
The problem, Crane’s novella argues, is that Women who became objects of sexual utility not only lost their appeal but also contracted a contagious shame. These women were of no value to their families because their behaviors were regarded as indicative of poor parenting. Families intent on maintaining the appearance of respectability would almost always cast them out.
Again, I’d argue that the novella is a journalistic endeavor, one intended to shed light on the fait of girls and women who occupied the lower rungs of late 19th century American society.
The gist of Crane’s report is that Life in the bowery sucked hard for men but even harder for women ;this was an unfortunate, objective reality that could not and should not be ignored.
Now, anyone who knows me knows how I feel about mysterious endings, especially ones that involve the ultimate fate of the protagonist. Again, I understand why Crane does this, even as I stamp my feet and scream at not being told what really became of Maggie.
Ultimately, this is an interesting, if not necessarily fun or exciting, read. I give it a grudging four stars.
Maggie Johnson, the ostensible protagonist in Stephen Crane’s controversial 1893 novella, exists not “for [her] own sake" (Enlo) but as a pastiche of female functions. For her lover she is a challenge and a conquest. She is an emblem of her mother’s authority and of her brother’s credibility. She is a repository for male desire, a source of carnal pleasure whose sexuality is not her own.
Maggie functions to delineate manifestations of gendered utility, even as she exemplifies the consequences of their forfeiture. Crane illustrates the plight of womanhood in the context of a problematic milieu: in the bowery, womanhood is a dangerous affliction. Thus, female utility is the fundamental difference between girls who disappear and women who survive.
Rather than get into naturalism as a genre and philosophy, I'm going to foreground gender instead.
The first thing I want to address is the relationship between gender binaries, double standards, and Maggie’s figurative, then literal, disappearance. It becomes very clear, very quickly, that utility is a currency which females exchange for survival; Maggie’s fatal descent into superfluity is a consequence of a bankruptcy that is uniquely female.
The young female characters in Crane’s novella operate in a social microcosm wherein Attractiveness, dutifulness, domesticity, or carnal talent can be redeemed for familial or masculine shelter.
That said, I Wouldn’t go so far as to call this a didactic treatise on proper behavior, not even a thinly veiled one. Crane’s bowery is no place for feminist or hegemonic precepts. More specifically, Maggie doesn’t really function to frighten bad little girls into staying good ones. Her story isn't really even meant to castigate patriarchy, not exactly. What Crane is doing is chronicling, rather dispassionately, the experiences of women operating in a misogynist, kill or be killed society.
He isn’t telling all women everywhere to fall back and let men guide, direct, and maintain them, nor does he advocate for or introduce new feminist precepts into the conversation. He isn't using Maggie to demonstrate that all women are dirty whores who'd live longer if they did what men said or, as some have argued, charging men with the deaths of Maggies everywhere.
He is, however,saying that women, essentially, worked harder to survive than men, especially if they were of the working class. After all, they didn't get to sit back, pop out kids, or eat, shop, or vacation on a patriarch’s dime. Unlike their wealthier counterparts, these women were *always* employed and on the clock.
And what jobs were available? Well, women could make a decent living remaining loyal to or reflecting positively on their families, even toxic ones like Maggie’s. They could do quite well as prostitutes. They could capture and maintain the interest of powerful, dangerous and, most importantly, wealthy men.
Bottom line, to survive in Maggie’s society, a woman needed to relinquish everything about herself that wasn’t useful to or pleasing to someone else. Those who couldn’t, or wouldn’t, often wound up drowning in the “mud puddle” that was “rum Alley” (Crane).
The problem, Crane’s novella argues, is that Women who became objects of sexual utility not only lost their appeal but also contracted a contagious shame. These women were of no value to their families because their behaviors were regarded as indicative of poor parenting. Families intent on maintaining the appearance of respectability would almost always cast them out.
Again, I’d argue that the novella is a journalistic endeavor, one intended to shed light on the fait of girls and women who occupied the lower rungs of late 19th century American society.
The gist of Crane’s report is that Life in the bowery sucked hard for men but even harder for women ;this was an unfortunate, objective reality that could not and should not be ignored.
Now, anyone who knows me knows how I feel about mysterious endings, especially ones that involve the ultimate fate of the protagonist. Again, I understand why Crane does this, even as I stamp my feet and scream at not being told what really became of Maggie.
Ultimately, this is an interesting, if not necessarily fun or exciting, read. I give it a grudging four stars.
December 2, 2019
A fine if grievous overview of squalid Bowery and its way of life... The story stands out as resolutely immersive to say the least!
Some comparison may be drawn between this one and The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, as both yield naturalistic-friendly contents and gloomy depictions of human misery.
Matching Soundtrack :
Alabama Song - The Doors
Some comparison may be drawn between this one and The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, as both yield naturalistic-friendly contents and gloomy depictions of human misery.
Matching Soundtrack :
Alabama Song - The Doors
November 19, 2008
I think the moral of the story was lost on me, as the times have changed so much. Everything was inferred instead of said outright. Did she actually have "relations" with Pete? I can't be sure, so am unclear why her mother disowned her. Did she kill herself? Was her situation really so severe that was her only way out? Obviously there was quite the double standard. Sins were not arranged in order of importance. The parents could be alcoholic lowlifes, and beat their children, but she was thrown out for going on a date? I liked the way he portrayed their speaking mannerisms, but the repetitiveness was grating.
July 7, 2021
★★★ e ½
Maggie ragazza di strada è l’esordio letterario di Stephen Crane, scrittore e giornalista statunitense che morì giovane (1871-1900).
Il breve romanzo fu pubblicato per la prima volta nel 1893 ed è indicato come la prima opera del Realismo americano.
Fin dalle prime righe si è catapultati in storia di violenza fisica e psicologica.
Siamo nel Bowery, quartiere malfamato dell’isola di Manhattan dove la vita è un lotta spietata per la sopravvivenza, una lezione che si deve imparare sin da piccoli.
Maggie fioriva nel fango :
una bellezza che risalta nella cornice fatiscente in cui si ritrova.
Un destino segnato da una tragicità che s’insinua durante la lettura attraverso le "riprese dall’alto" di tutto un ambiente marcio da ogni punto di vista.
Questo sguardo distanziato dell’autore è la peculiarità della sua scrittura; é la cifra stilistica che definirà quello che è stato chiamato “realismo reticente”, ossia, il racconto ambientale scevro da romanticismi, approfondimenti psicologici e giudizi morali.
Qualcuno ha accostato Crane a Zola ma leggendo la storia di Maggie salta all’occhio la distanza abissale.
Qui la scrittura non si sofferma sui particolari e catapulta il lettore in un inferno lasciandolo in balìa di una sintassi secca.
Stephen Crane conobbe maggiore successo più tardi con The Red Badge of Courage (“Il segno rosso del coraggio”, 1895), ambientato durante la guerra civile americana.
Maggie ragazza di strada, tuttavia, è un’opera che mette in scena per la prima volta in modo crudo la realtà di un ghetto newyorkese:
la storia di un mondo fatto solo di privazioni e di insulti”.
” Naturalmente, in pubblico Jimmie condannava sua sorella, in modo da porsi su un piano sociale più elevato. Ma, tra sé e sé, vagando col pensiero per sentieri noti a lui solo, una volta giunse quasi alla conclusione che sua sorella sarebbe stata senza dubbio migliore se soltanto avesse saputo come esserlo. Sentì, però, che non poteva sostenere un punto di vista del genere, e si affrettò a cambiarlo.”
Maggie ragazza di strada è l’esordio letterario di Stephen Crane, scrittore e giornalista statunitense che morì giovane (1871-1900).
Il breve romanzo fu pubblicato per la prima volta nel 1893 ed è indicato come la prima opera del Realismo americano.
Fin dalle prime righe si è catapultati in storia di violenza fisica e psicologica.
Siamo nel Bowery, quartiere malfamato dell’isola di Manhattan dove la vita è un lotta spietata per la sopravvivenza, una lezione che si deve imparare sin da piccoli.
Maggie fioriva nel fango :
una bellezza che risalta nella cornice fatiscente in cui si ritrova.
Un destino segnato da una tragicità che s’insinua durante la lettura attraverso le "riprese dall’alto" di tutto un ambiente marcio da ogni punto di vista.
Questo sguardo distanziato dell’autore è la peculiarità della sua scrittura; é la cifra stilistica che definirà quello che è stato chiamato “realismo reticente”, ossia, il racconto ambientale scevro da romanticismi, approfondimenti psicologici e giudizi morali.
Qualcuno ha accostato Crane a Zola ma leggendo la storia di Maggie salta all’occhio la distanza abissale.
Qui la scrittura non si sofferma sui particolari e catapulta il lettore in un inferno lasciandolo in balìa di una sintassi secca.
Stephen Crane conobbe maggiore successo più tardi con The Red Badge of Courage (“Il segno rosso del coraggio”, 1895), ambientato durante la guerra civile americana.
Maggie ragazza di strada, tuttavia, è un’opera che mette in scena per la prima volta in modo crudo la realtà di un ghetto newyorkese:
la storia di un mondo fatto solo di privazioni e di insulti”.
” Naturalmente, in pubblico Jimmie condannava sua sorella, in modo da porsi su un piano sociale più elevato. Ma, tra sé e sé, vagando col pensiero per sentieri noti a lui solo, una volta giunse quasi alla conclusione che sua sorella sarebbe stata senza dubbio migliore se soltanto avesse saputo come esserlo. Sentì, però, che non poteva sostenere un punto di vista del genere, e si affrettò a cambiarlo.”
December 26, 2020
Fena değildi. Hoş vakit geçirmek için iyi bir seçimdi. Bu kitapla Amerika'nın getto mahallesindeki yaşamdan bir kesit gördük.
January 6, 2022
This is a very short novel that really packs a punch, written by Stephen Crane at the tender age of just 21. I'm not sure I liked it as much as his more famous "Red Badge of Courage," but it sure is one impressive debut.
The problem for me is that the synopsis of the novel sounds much more emotionally impactful than the work as a whole. A young girl named Maggie grows up in a chaotic household in the seedy heart of the Bowery. Her alcoholic mother spends all her time loafing around the flat, getting drunk, and smashing furniture. Maggie and her brother are in fact the real adults, working and providing for the household. But when her brother introduces her to a loudmouth bartender who freely spends his time, money, and attention on Maggie, she becomes smitten with his tough exterior, imagining him to be her shining knight. After another of her mother's destructive drunken rows, Maggie leaves home, and her mother projects all of her own failures of fortitude onto her daughter, spreading it around that Maggie has "gone to the devil," and is of low moral character. She is shunned and abandoned by the family, and eventually by her "knight" as well, leaving her at the mercy of the merciless city where there is no charity and no welfare.
Now if this doesn't move you to appreciate the plight of women in our not-so-distant past as well as the importance of the early women's rights movement, nothing will. But the book itself doesn't actually deliver. Why?
Well, first of all, Maggie herself is hardly developed as a character, so we have little investment in her situation. The focus of the novel remains very male-centric. We spend most of our time with Pete (the knight) and her brother Jimmy, watching them drink, brawl, and treat Maggie like dirt. We see a little of their guilt over their role in Maggie's outcome. But Maggie herself is barely a person, and her ultimate fate occurs "off-screen."
Therefore, so much of the story is taken up with senseless Bowery slang. "Well, it's like this, see? This here mug wants to start a thumping, and I tells him not to make trouble, see? You's better not make no trouble, I says, or I'll lay ya flat, see mug? Myeah, myeah, myeah..."
And to think I made fun of "Red Badge" for sounding like a Bugs Bunny cartoon. If just some of this was trimmed down, this could've made quite a tight novelette, a parable about hypocrisy. It is the behavior of Maggie's mother that destroys what Maggie builds, alienates her daughter and sends her into the arms of a stranger, yet she drunkenly and publically denounces Maggie for being immoral. We don't need to read endlessly about Jimmy's scraps with the local hoodlums, or watch Pete throwing money around saying, "We're having a hell of a time, ain't we?"
I also don't subscribe to books that espouse environmental or genetic determinism. Some say that this novel is not about that at all, but it sure seems to carry that message. Despite growing up in a neglectful and violent environment, Maggie is still quite innocent and has a strong work ethic. She does nothing wrong, and yet succumbs to the lack of support, empathy, opportunity, and humanity within her low class family and peers. That certainly seems like a scathing and pessimistic indictment of what it means to be poor in America. And I'm not sure I buy into Maggie suddenly having no prospects upon which to survive just because her drunken mother disowned her. In fact, she'd probably be better off without the liability of supporting such a miserable bint.
Regardless, this is a classic story that I think should be read by anyone at least once, but I do not think it comes anywhere close to "Red Badge," or to many other greats of literature. Crane certainly proved himself once again with this story to be an immensely sensitive and precocious young author who sadly was taken from us far too early. But in the end, I feel I can only give this three stars out of five.
The problem for me is that the synopsis of the novel sounds much more emotionally impactful than the work as a whole. A young girl named Maggie grows up in a chaotic household in the seedy heart of the Bowery. Her alcoholic mother spends all her time loafing around the flat, getting drunk, and smashing furniture. Maggie and her brother are in fact the real adults, working and providing for the household. But when her brother introduces her to a loudmouth bartender who freely spends his time, money, and attention on Maggie, she becomes smitten with his tough exterior, imagining him to be her shining knight. After another of her mother's destructive drunken rows, Maggie leaves home, and her mother projects all of her own failures of fortitude onto her daughter, spreading it around that Maggie has "gone to the devil," and is of low moral character. She is shunned and abandoned by the family, and eventually by her "knight" as well, leaving her at the mercy of the merciless city where there is no charity and no welfare.
Now if this doesn't move you to appreciate the plight of women in our not-so-distant past as well as the importance of the early women's rights movement, nothing will. But the book itself doesn't actually deliver. Why?
Well, first of all, Maggie herself is hardly developed as a character, so we have little investment in her situation. The focus of the novel remains very male-centric. We spend most of our time with Pete (the knight) and her brother Jimmy, watching them drink, brawl, and treat Maggie like dirt. We see a little of their guilt over their role in Maggie's outcome. But Maggie herself is barely a person, and her ultimate fate occurs "off-screen."
Therefore, so much of the story is taken up with senseless Bowery slang. "Well, it's like this, see? This here mug wants to start a thumping, and I tells him not to make trouble, see? You's better not make no trouble, I says, or I'll lay ya flat, see mug? Myeah, myeah, myeah..."
And to think I made fun of "Red Badge" for sounding like a Bugs Bunny cartoon. If just some of this was trimmed down, this could've made quite a tight novelette, a parable about hypocrisy. It is the behavior of Maggie's mother that destroys what Maggie builds, alienates her daughter and sends her into the arms of a stranger, yet she drunkenly and publically denounces Maggie for being immoral. We don't need to read endlessly about Jimmy's scraps with the local hoodlums, or watch Pete throwing money around saying, "We're having a hell of a time, ain't we?"
I also don't subscribe to books that espouse environmental or genetic determinism. Some say that this novel is not about that at all, but it sure seems to carry that message. Despite growing up in a neglectful and violent environment, Maggie is still quite innocent and has a strong work ethic. She does nothing wrong, and yet succumbs to the lack of support, empathy, opportunity, and humanity within her low class family and peers. That certainly seems like a scathing and pessimistic indictment of what it means to be poor in America. And I'm not sure I buy into Maggie suddenly having no prospects upon which to survive just because her drunken mother disowned her. In fact, she'd probably be better off without the liability of supporting such a miserable bint.
Regardless, this is a classic story that I think should be read by anyone at least once, but I do not think it comes anywhere close to "Red Badge," or to many other greats of literature. Crane certainly proved himself once again with this story to be an immensely sensitive and precocious young author who sadly was taken from us far too early. But in the end, I feel I can only give this three stars out of five.
August 20, 2025
This was a surprise. Rough as guts portrayal of life in the Bowery in NYC in the late 19th century. All the dialogue is in the vernacular and nearly unrecognisable by today's standard. The poverty, drunkeness and difficult living, especially for the children and women, was staggering. If a true picture of the times, and why not, it is an eye opener. Sad and depressing, but of course so was Crane's masterpiece, Red Badge of Courage. Hard to rate, at least it was short and did not drag too long in pain.
His companion said that if he should ever meet God he would ask for a million dollars and a bottle of beer. (p. 26).
“Say, Mag, I’m stuck on yer shape. It’s outa sight,” he said, parenthetically, with an affable grin. (p. 38).
His companion said that if he should ever meet God he would ask for a million dollars and a bottle of beer. (p. 26).
“Say, Mag, I’m stuck on yer shape. It’s outa sight,” he said, parenthetically, with an affable grin. (p. 38).
November 29, 2023
Dice Paul Auster que “Maggie” ha sido catalogada por los críticos como una obra realista, impresionista o determinista cuando en realidad elude toda categorización. Es una narrativa extraña y visionaria donde se proyecta la vida de una joven en un paisaje que se parece al New York donde vivió su autor, Stephen Crane.
El presente ejemplar esta vigente, es moderno y nuevo. Si bien causó repulsión entre los lectores de fines del sXIX y se quemaron ejemplares por ser considerado inmoral, ofensivo y un atentado a la decencia cristiana, trata temas actuales.
Crane describe una sociedad pauperizada, personas sin hogar, niños desharrapados durmiendo en las calles, trabajo clandestino, prostitución, alcoholismo, violencia familiar y miseria.
Maggie crece en ese entorno, tiene escasas herramientas para poder escapara de su realidad. Está indefensa y termina sacrificada en una sociedad que ataca a los débiles. Su origen sentenció a la niña que floreció entre el fango.
El presente ejemplar esta vigente, es moderno y nuevo. Si bien causó repulsión entre los lectores de fines del sXIX y se quemaron ejemplares por ser considerado inmoral, ofensivo y un atentado a la decencia cristiana, trata temas actuales.
Crane describe una sociedad pauperizada, personas sin hogar, niños desharrapados durmiendo en las calles, trabajo clandestino, prostitución, alcoholismo, violencia familiar y miseria.
Maggie crece en ese entorno, tiene escasas herramientas para poder escapara de su realidad. Está indefensa y termina sacrificada en una sociedad que ataca a los débiles. Su origen sentenció a la niña que floreció entre el fango.
October 3, 2015
This is perhaps the most sordid short novel i ever read;the journey to depravity prostitution and death forced by the loneliness, doublé moral and necesity of a por beautifull girl born in a miserable suburb of New York.The prostitution of the body not of the soul that remains pure and clean to his final death.This is i think the firs naturalist novel in USA
October 18, 2021
The ending was rushed. It was certainly where the story was going but there should have been a few more chapters just a few to flesh it out before that ending.
April 18, 2018
Questo suo primo romanzo Stephen Crane lo ha scritto a 20 anni e ci impiegò due giorni e due notti. Presumo a mano. Avrebbe potuto darci qualcosa di più, oltre il secondo romanzo Il segno rosso del coraggio ed alcuni racconti, se non fosse morto a 29 anni.
Storia di strada, quartiere Bowery, che all’epoca era abitato da un’umanità misera, annegata nell’alcool, vile, feroce, con un senso d’accatto per ciò che non è decoroso. I bambini vivono la strada, le risse e le sassaiole per trovare a casa punizioni a base di botte e genitori ubriachi.
Due fratelli, Jimmie e Maggie.
Jimmie cresce con l’unica occupazione di starsene agli angoli delle strade a guardare il mondo passare. “Egli sfidava l’umanità ai crocicchi. Era agli angoli nella vita e della vita.” Poi farà il carrettiere di pessimo carattere avendo rispetto solo dei Vigili del Fuoco. Arrestato fin da bambino e con una fedina bella grassa ancor prima di essere diventato adulto.
Maggie vive una vita meno movimentata, perché è una donna e per carattere.
Lavora in un buco che produce colletti e polsini, guadagna poco ed è bella.
S’innamora, come accade alle ragazze senza esperienza, di un amico del fratello che fa il barman e sfoggia abiti che, nel fango del quartiere, appaiono fichissimi.
Nulla di più di un fasullo, prepotente e vanitoso, ma Maggie lo vede risplendere di un tipo di vita che lei non conosce.
Le fa frequentare locali che a lei sembrano scintillanti e lussuosi, un mondo di favola.
Naturalmente, non sappiamo quando, la seduce.
La via dove abitano lo indovina, le lingue si muovo, la madre, tra un soggiorno e l’altro in galera, diventa severa manco fosse Lucrezia e così pure Jimmie.
Quando il fasullo l’abbandona, e a casa non ce la vogliono più, che può fare Maggie?
Non lo vediamo, lo sapremo dalla gente della strada.
Si può dire che i personaggi non diventano tali perché così sono all’inizio e così sono alla fine.
Ma sono poi veramente personaggi? o non piuttosto maschere di quella vita tanto degradata?
Il Ragazzo, il Fasullo, la Madre, la Nonna e la Ragazza hanno un nome e cognome o possono essere solo persone uguali alle altre perché le loro storie sono uguali tra loro?
L’orripilante e ironica scena finale dove si rappresenta l’ipocrisia tutta vestita delle frasi consolatorie e di dolore tante volte sentite è la pietra tombale di tante Maggie.
Crane aveva letto poco (anche se bene), diceva per non cadere nella trappola dell’imitazione. Lui voleva il parlato della gente e i colori della realtà. Magari cent’anni dopo avrebbe fatto il regista o il documentarista, chissà.
La traduzione non risulta agevole proprio per il linguaggio, ma nello stesso tempo, Crane si è guadagnato questa osservazione “Egli insegnò all’America a scrivere in americano.”
(1987) – 17.04.2018
Storia di strada, quartiere Bowery, che all’epoca era abitato da un’umanità misera, annegata nell’alcool, vile, feroce, con un senso d’accatto per ciò che non è decoroso. I bambini vivono la strada, le risse e le sassaiole per trovare a casa punizioni a base di botte e genitori ubriachi.
Due fratelli, Jimmie e Maggie.
Jimmie cresce con l’unica occupazione di starsene agli angoli delle strade a guardare il mondo passare. “Egli sfidava l’umanità ai crocicchi. Era agli angoli nella vita e della vita.” Poi farà il carrettiere di pessimo carattere avendo rispetto solo dei Vigili del Fuoco. Arrestato fin da bambino e con una fedina bella grassa ancor prima di essere diventato adulto.
Maggie vive una vita meno movimentata, perché è una donna e per carattere.
Lavora in un buco che produce colletti e polsini, guadagna poco ed è bella.
S’innamora, come accade alle ragazze senza esperienza, di un amico del fratello che fa il barman e sfoggia abiti che, nel fango del quartiere, appaiono fichissimi.
Nulla di più di un fasullo, prepotente e vanitoso, ma Maggie lo vede risplendere di un tipo di vita che lei non conosce.
Le fa frequentare locali che a lei sembrano scintillanti e lussuosi, un mondo di favola.
Naturalmente, non sappiamo quando, la seduce.
La via dove abitano lo indovina, le lingue si muovo, la madre, tra un soggiorno e l’altro in galera, diventa severa manco fosse Lucrezia e così pure Jimmie.
Quando il fasullo l’abbandona, e a casa non ce la vogliono più, che può fare Maggie?
Non lo vediamo, lo sapremo dalla gente della strada.
Si può dire che i personaggi non diventano tali perché così sono all’inizio e così sono alla fine.
Ma sono poi veramente personaggi? o non piuttosto maschere di quella vita tanto degradata?
Il Ragazzo, il Fasullo, la Madre, la Nonna e la Ragazza hanno un nome e cognome o possono essere solo persone uguali alle altre perché le loro storie sono uguali tra loro?
L’orripilante e ironica scena finale dove si rappresenta l’ipocrisia tutta vestita delle frasi consolatorie e di dolore tante volte sentite è la pietra tombale di tante Maggie.
Crane aveva letto poco (anche se bene), diceva per non cadere nella trappola dell’imitazione. Lui voleva il parlato della gente e i colori della realtà. Magari cent’anni dopo avrebbe fatto il regista o il documentarista, chissà.
La traduzione non risulta agevole proprio per il linguaggio, ma nello stesso tempo, Crane si è guadagnato questa osservazione “Egli insegnò all’America a scrivere in americano.”
(1987) – 17.04.2018
November 26, 2019
Must've been a bold book at the time, and is a little hyperbolized in order to make the reader draw the right conclusions of where the blame lay. I imagine a lot of people may have been outraged about an author choosing to talk about such subjects at the end of the 19th century, when polite society was everything. A very, very sad story, but it's likely such a story was enacted many, many times by women in unfortunate circumstances and abusive families. And probably still is, although I only hope not as often.
September 26, 2025
This was absolutely devastating, ouch.
I'm kinda weirded out by the fact that I enjoyed this.
I am so sorry, Maggie...
Definitely one of the exemplary texts to study Modernism and Naturalism.
I'm kinda weirded out by the fact that I enjoyed this.
I am so sorry, Maggie...
Definitely one of the exemplary texts to study Modernism and Naturalism.
March 20, 2025
Sokak ağzı çevirilerini okumaktan hoşlanmıyorum, o yüzden tatsız bir okuma deneyimi oldu. Maggie, Yaprak Dökümü Necla gibi kalakaldı ortada vallahi. Her şey çok hızlı gelişti ama. Necla’nın ortada kalışı bile daha heyecanlıydı bunun yanında. Haliyle oradan da epey puan gitti… Yazarın/kitabın sevenleri gelmeden, yine de okumak isteyenine iyi okumalar dilerim 🤐
July 2, 2016
For as much as I love Crane, I just can't get over the hump on this one and connect the dots to many of his other works I find nearly perfect. It might be the disconnected ending that makes the reader flip back pages to see if we accidentally missed a chapter, the Irish patois of the chronically indigent, or maybe it's Crane's thumb on the moral scale that keeps me from engaging fully - whatever the case, this is an example of either a short story made too long or a novel entirely too short; as a novella it fails pretty soundly.
There are great Cranesque lines throughout the work that save it from complete tosh-dom, and maybe that's why I keep coming back to this work over the years to see if I missed something. But this re-reading made it feel like a poor fictionalized version of Angela's Ashes published 100 years later. If you're new to Crane, this is not the place to start. Go with Red Badge of Courage or Open Boat to understand why so many authors in the early 20th century looked to Crane as their north star.
There are great Cranesque lines throughout the work that save it from complete tosh-dom, and maybe that's why I keep coming back to this work over the years to see if I missed something. But this re-reading made it feel like a poor fictionalized version of Angela's Ashes published 100 years later. If you're new to Crane, this is not the place to start. Go with Red Badge of Courage or Open Boat to understand why so many authors in the early 20th century looked to Crane as their north star.
March 29, 2021
2.5/5
September 2, 2015
Considered "too immature" by critics when it was released, I also consider it shallow. It seemed like the same few phrases were repeated by every character until they said it enough to qualify enough words for a novel. This seems more of a sneer at the lower class rather than the narrative on how women with little resources and restricted freedom could be forced and then harshly judged for living immorally by society's standards. And I was hoping for the latter.
I suppose the ambiguity of Maggies fallen graces is due to the time period but, besides her brother's early upbringing and profession, everything else is vague. What is Maggie thinking besides "He's neat" during the entire novel? What is the back story in such a belligerent woman as Maggie's mother becoming married with two children? What happened to the family? Who is fixing all the perpetually broken furniture in such a dysfunctional and poor household? What was their town like besides having busy streets and idle boys? What does Maggie do when she isn't at the bar with Pete and he is at work? How do his neighbors receive her? What does she want? What are her dreams? Didn't she have a friend in the world to talk to and the drama that could have unfolded between the two as Maggie became the lost in ill repute. For a teenager, the scorn from her peers would have been far more damaging than that of gossiping neighbors. What do Pete and Maggie talk about? There could have been more of a climax to their relationship besides going to an entertaining bar.
I suppose the ambiguity of Maggies fallen graces is due to the time period but, besides her brother's early upbringing and profession, everything else is vague. What is Maggie thinking besides "He's neat" during the entire novel? What is the back story in such a belligerent woman as Maggie's mother becoming married with two children? What happened to the family? Who is fixing all the perpetually broken furniture in such a dysfunctional and poor household? What was their town like besides having busy streets and idle boys? What does Maggie do when she isn't at the bar with Pete and he is at work? How do his neighbors receive her? What does she want? What are her dreams? Didn't she have a friend in the world to talk to and the drama that could have unfolded between the two as Maggie became the lost in ill repute. For a teenager, the scorn from her peers would have been far more damaging than that of gossiping neighbors. What do Pete and Maggie talk about? There could have been more of a climax to their relationship besides going to an entertaining bar.
March 16, 2011
I read this book on-screen in my down time at work. It's set in late 19th-century New York, from what I gather, which is what attracted me to it, as I'm in the midst of a long documentary on New York. I don't know that I would include the book among my top 10, but I like it very much. The language is absolutely delectable. I want to eat it and hug Crane for writing it. His language is crystal clear; he constructs sentences in such a way to emit a vivid visual experience from between the words. His adjectives are active; he uses colors as verbs. The book ends with the sun's "ghastly cheerfulness," ghastly in light of the story's grim events--grim in the particulars of the story's characters and of the larger setting in which they live.
April 17, 2011
Really loved this novella. It directly transports one to 1880's Lower East side Manhattan. I thought Crane was born and raised in the Irish slums of the Bowery, but he had spent very little time there before the novel. His use of dialogue and slang made me feel like I was there in the tenement with Jimmy and Maggie. It taught me about history, the slums of old New York, and the puritanical views of lower class Irish at the time. I got a little bit of sociology, anthropology, history, and fictional story; everything I need in a book. Also, the story was very different from other things I've read. I recommend this to everyone, especially those into New York City history.
November 12, 2021
Maggie ve evlerinin alt katında yaşayan komşu kadın hariç bu kitaptaki herkesin allah belasını versin ya. Sinir oldum vallahi.
January 31, 2025
emotional damage: https://substack.com/@ramonaboldizsar...
Am cumpărat-o dintr-un impuls, ea era ieftină, eu luam niște cărți și nu citisem niciodată nimic de Stephen Crane. N-a fost o idee rea deloc. Este debutul acestui scriitor american care a murit la doar 28 de ani și a apărut în 1893. A fost o provocare să citesc cartea asta în engleză pentru că dialogurile sunt scrise fix așa cum se vorbea în mediile respective în acea perioadă, cu alte cuvinte un „dis” în loc de „this” nu e așa greu de citit, dar când un personaj vorbea și tot vorbea, devenea din ce în ce mai dificil să descifrez ce spunea. Mi-a luat o vreme, dar a fost și asta ceva interesant.
Maggie mi-a dat emotional damage în cel mai înalt grad și cred c-am fost ușor tristă să văd cât de puțin este apreciată. Personal mi s-a părut o carte foarte puternică, dar nu doar asta. Este și foarte bine scrisă. Avem un mediu foarte murdar și sărac într-un cartier muncitoresc unde alcoolul curge pe gâtlejurile tuturor, unde viața femeilor este separată de viața bărbaților în ceea ce privește comportamentul și normele sociale, dar când vine vorba de băutură, nu știe discriminare... Cartea începe cu o imagistică foarte puternică: o bătaie pe stradă între doi puști din cartiere diferite. E foarte bun primul capitol și ce m-a cucerit pe mine din prima la Stephen Crane este faptul că în acest mediu violent, lipsit de educație și pe care-l descrie foarte vivid și clar, avem ocazia să întâlnim frumusețe. Dar nu frumusețe la nivel metaforic, nu e vorba despre tandrețe, ci despre frumusețea frazei sale. Descrie direct și fără sclipici lumea pe care aproape c-o vedem și noi și apoi servește o frază care-ți îndoaie genunchii. Ceea ce pentru mine demonstrează o anumită capacitate scriitoricească, să zicem așa.
Maggie: A girl of the Streets este un roman scurt (poate fi considerată chiar nuvelă, presupun) despre tragedia prin care trece Maggie. Pe ea o cunoaștem prin intermediul întregii familii pentru că Jimmie, fratele ei mai mic, deschide narațiunea: el se bătea în stradă cu Pete la începutul cărții. Deși Jimmie a nenorocit surorile mai multora și nu vede nimic greșit în asta, nu punctual, nu s-a gândit că altcineva ar putea să-i „nenorocească” sora. Maggie este forțată să devină prostituată din cauza unor circumstanțe extreme, teribil de nedrepte și care au mare legătură și cu abandonul familiei, dar și cu lipsa de responsabilitate a bărbaților din acel mediu. Pe cât de scurtă, pe atât de cumplită povestea. Mai ales că Maggie se gândește la un moment dat dacă cineva care a trăit într-un mediu ca al ei ar avea dreptul sau accesul la cultura frumoasă pe care reușește s-o vadă în diverse contexte. E sfâșietor pentru că nu există ispășire și nu există pedeapsă pentru cei care au greșit cu adevărat. E o carte tragică, fără pic de optimism și care se încheie într-un mod de un umor negru impecabil, care te sfâșie și care poate n-a fost prins întotdeauna ca ceea ce este, o replică ironică prin care Stephen Crane ne arată ce crede de fapt. Lumea e murdară și nedreaptă și Maggie e doar un exemplu al acestei cumplite anomalii.
M-a tulburat destul de mult cartea asta. Vorbește destul de direct și despre efectul direct al alcoolismului, un fenomen atotcuprinzător și care se perpetuează de-a lungul secolelor în mediile sărace și defavorizate. O vedem și azi, de altfel.
Nu cred că e tradusă la noi, am citit-o în engleză, într-o ediție cu eroare de tipărire (începe de la final, se termină unde ne întâlnim cu coperta 1).
Am cumpărat-o dintr-un impuls, ea era ieftină, eu luam niște cărți și nu citisem niciodată nimic de Stephen Crane. N-a fost o idee rea deloc. Este debutul acestui scriitor american care a murit la doar 28 de ani și a apărut în 1893. A fost o provocare să citesc cartea asta în engleză pentru că dialogurile sunt scrise fix așa cum se vorbea în mediile respective în acea perioadă, cu alte cuvinte un „dis” în loc de „this” nu e așa greu de citit, dar când un personaj vorbea și tot vorbea, devenea din ce în ce mai dificil să descifrez ce spunea. Mi-a luat o vreme, dar a fost și asta ceva interesant.
Maggie mi-a dat emotional damage în cel mai înalt grad și cred c-am fost ușor tristă să văd cât de puțin este apreciată. Personal mi s-a părut o carte foarte puternică, dar nu doar asta. Este și foarte bine scrisă. Avem un mediu foarte murdar și sărac într-un cartier muncitoresc unde alcoolul curge pe gâtlejurile tuturor, unde viața femeilor este separată de viața bărbaților în ceea ce privește comportamentul și normele sociale, dar când vine vorba de băutură, nu știe discriminare... Cartea începe cu o imagistică foarte puternică: o bătaie pe stradă între doi puști din cartiere diferite. E foarte bun primul capitol și ce m-a cucerit pe mine din prima la Stephen Crane este faptul că în acest mediu violent, lipsit de educație și pe care-l descrie foarte vivid și clar, avem ocazia să întâlnim frumusețe. Dar nu frumusețe la nivel metaforic, nu e vorba despre tandrețe, ci despre frumusețea frazei sale. Descrie direct și fără sclipici lumea pe care aproape c-o vedem și noi și apoi servește o frază care-ți îndoaie genunchii. Ceea ce pentru mine demonstrează o anumită capacitate scriitoricească, să zicem așa.
Maggie: A girl of the Streets este un roman scurt (poate fi considerată chiar nuvelă, presupun) despre tragedia prin care trece Maggie. Pe ea o cunoaștem prin intermediul întregii familii pentru că Jimmie, fratele ei mai mic, deschide narațiunea: el se bătea în stradă cu Pete la începutul cărții. Deși Jimmie a nenorocit surorile mai multora și nu vede nimic greșit în asta, nu punctual, nu s-a gândit că altcineva ar putea să-i „nenorocească” sora. Maggie este forțată să devină prostituată din cauza unor circumstanțe extreme, teribil de nedrepte și care au mare legătură și cu abandonul familiei, dar și cu lipsa de responsabilitate a bărbaților din acel mediu. Pe cât de scurtă, pe atât de cumplită povestea. Mai ales că Maggie se gândește la un moment dat dacă cineva care a trăit într-un mediu ca al ei ar avea dreptul sau accesul la cultura frumoasă pe care reușește s-o vadă în diverse contexte. E sfâșietor pentru că nu există ispășire și nu există pedeapsă pentru cei care au greșit cu adevărat. E o carte tragică, fără pic de optimism și care se încheie într-un mod de un umor negru impecabil, care te sfâșie și care poate n-a fost prins întotdeauna ca ceea ce este, o replică ironică prin care Stephen Crane ne arată ce crede de fapt. Lumea e murdară și nedreaptă și Maggie e doar un exemplu al acestei cumplite anomalii.
M-a tulburat destul de mult cartea asta. Vorbește destul de direct și despre efectul direct al alcoolismului, un fenomen atotcuprinzător și care se perpetuează de-a lungul secolelor în mediile sărace și defavorizate. O vedem și azi, de altfel.
Nu cred că e tradusă la noi, am citit-o în engleză, într-o ediție cu eroare de tipărire (începe de la final, se termină unde ne întâlnim cu coperta 1).
January 6, 2023
في تعرفي على أوّل روايات الكاتب الأمريكي ستيفن كرين الذي اقرأ له للمرة الأولى من هذا الكتاب الذي صدر من دار ماركيز (البصره - العراق) من السنة الماضية من معرض الكتاب واستمر الحماس لديّ لقرائتها، وهذه هي رواية واقعية اعتبرت جريئةً وفاضحةً لدرجة أنّ دور النّشر قد رفضت نشرها في ذلك الحين، واضطر الكاتب أن ينشرها على نفقته الخاصّة وتحت اسم مستعار، تناقش الروايه القصيرة نبذة عن وحشية الحياة الحقيقية في أحياء نيويورك الفقيرة، وتطرح قضايا تتعلّق بالأخلاق والدّين والمشاعر الإنسانية بلا زَيفٍ أو بهرجة . ماغي فتاة تعيش في "حي باوري" في نيويورك تحت ظروفٍ قاسية يسودها العنف والفقر والنّفاق الاجتماعي. تسلط الضوء على كينونة الأشخاص المحيطين بماري مثل امها وأخوها والفتى الذي رافقته ولكن لا تبدو أبداََ من وجهة نظر ماري نفسها لأن في هذة الروايه ليست مجرد شخصيه إنما مثال وايقونة مهمه في المجتمع المزيف.
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