Maggie, a Girl of the Streets and Other New York Writings

by Crane, Stephen; Sante, Luc

• ISBN13: 9780375756894
• ISBN10: 0375756892
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-03-13
• Publisher: Modern Library

Summary

This harrowing tale of a young girl in the slums is a searing portrayal of turn-of-the-century New York, and Stephen Crane's most innovative work. Published in 1893, when the author was just twenty-one, it broke new ground with its vivid characters, its brutal naturalism, and its empathic rendering of the lives of the poor. It remains both powerful, severe, and harshly comic (in Alfred Kazin's words) and a masterpiece of modern American prose. This edition includes Maggie and George's Mother, Crane's other Bowery tales, and the most comprehensive available selection of Crane's New York journalism. All texts in this volume are presented in their definitive versions.

Author Biography

Luc Sante is the author of <b>Low Life</b>, <b>Evidence</b>, and <b>The Factory of Facts</b>. He teaches at Bard College and lives in New York.

Table of Contents

Biographical Note	v
Introduction	xi
Luc Sante
Maggie, A Girl of the Streets	1	(70)
George's Mother	71	(184)
New York Tales and Sketches
A Great Mistake	131	(3)
An Ominous Baby	134	(4)
A Dark-Brown Dog	138	(7)
The Broken-Down Van	145	(7)
An Experiment in Misery	152	(13)
An Experiment in Luxury	165	(9)
Mr. Binks' Day Off	174	(9)
Stories Told by an Artist	183	(9)
The Men in the Storm	192	(8)
Coney Island's Failing Days	200	(7)
The Fire	207	(7)
When Man Falls, a Crowd Gathers	214	(5)
New York's Bicycle Speedway	219	(4)
An Eloquence of Grief	223	(3)
In the Tenderloin: A Duel Between an Alarm Clock and a Suicidal Purpose	226	(4)
The ``Tenderloin'' As It Really Is	230	(6)
In the ``Tenderloin''	236	(4)
Stephen Crane in Minetta Lane	240	(8)
Adventures of a Novelist	248	(7)
Note on the Text	255	(2)
Commentary	257	(8)
Discussion Guide	265

Excerpts

Chapter 1

A very little boy stood upon a heap of gravel for the honor of Rum Alley.

He was throwing stones at howling urchins from Devil's Row who were circling madly about the heap and pelting at him.

His infantile countenance was livid with fury. His small body was writhing in the delivery of great, crimson oaths.

"Run, Jimmie, run! Dey'll get yehs," screamed a retreating Rum Alley child.

"Naw," responded Jimmie with a valiant roar, "dese micks can't make me run."

Howls of renewed wrath went up from Devil's Row throats. Tattered gamins on the right made a furious assault on the gravel heap. On their small, convulsed faces there shone the grins of true assassins. As they charged, they threw stones and cursed in shrill chorus.

The little champion of Rum Alley stumbled precipitately down the other side. His coat had been torn to shreds in a scuffle, and his hat was gone. He had bruises on twenty parts of his body, and blood was dripping from a cut in his head. His wan features wore a look of a tiny, insane demon.

On the ground, children from Devil's Row closed in on their antagonist. He crooked his left arm defensively about his head and fought with cursing fury. The little boys ran to and fro, dodging, hurling stones and swearing in barbaric trebles.

From a window of an apartment house that upreared its form from amid squat, ignorant stables, there leaned a curious woman. Some laborers, unloading a scow at a dock at the river, paused for a moment and regarded the fight. The engineer of a passive tugboat hung lazily to a railing and watched. Over on the Island, a worm of yellow convicts came from the shadow of a grey ominous building and crawled slowly along the river's bank.

A stone had smashed into Jimmie's mouth. Blood was bubbling over his chin and down upon his ragged shirt. Tears made furrows on his dirt-stained cheeks. His thin legs had begun to tremble and turn weak, causing his small body to reel. His roaring curses of the first part of the fight had changed to a blasphemous chatter.

In the yells of the whirling mob of Devil's Row children there were notes of joy like songs of triumphant savagery. The little boys seemed to leer gloatingly at the blood upon the other child's face.

Down the avenue came boastfully sauntering a lad of sixteen years, although the chronic sneer of an ideal manhood already sat upon his lips. His hat was tipped with an air of challenge over his eye. Between his teeth, a cigar stump was tilted at the angle of defiance. He walked with a certain
swing of the shoulders which appalled the timid. He glanced over into the vacant lot in which the little raving boys from Devil's Row seethed about the shrieking and tearful child from Rum Alley.

"Gee!" he murmured with interest, "A scrap. Gee!"

He strode over to the cursing circle, swinging his shoulders in a manner which denoted that he held victory in his fists. He approached at the back of one of the most deeply engaged of the Devil's Row children.

"Ah, what deh hell," he said, and smote the deeply-engaged one on the back of the head. The little boy fell to the ground and gave a hoarse, tremendous howl.

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Excerpted from Maggie, a Girl of the Streets and Other New York Writings by Stephen Crane
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