Maggie: A Girl of the Streets: A Norton Critical Edition (Norton Critical Editions)

American novelist Stephen Crane (1871-1900) is familiar to many readers due to his Civil War classic The Red Badge of Courage (1895), which is standard fare in most high school literature classes. Less familiar, however, is Crane's first novel, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (1893), written when the author was only 22 years-old. In this work, Crane chronicles the tragic descent of Maggie, the novel's young heroine, which is propelled by the pernicious effects of the hellish slum life of late nineteenth-century New York City. The author, normally described as a "naturalist," did indeed base this work on his own detailed observations as well as those of the crusading journalist and photographer Jacob Riis (author of How the Other Half Lives). Nevertheless, Crane also imbues Maggie: A Girl of the Streets with ample doses of symbolism, biblical allusions, and even melodrama. This masterful amalgamation of literary styles allowed Crane to create a harrowing but heartfelt depiction of the debilitating effect of impersonal societal forces on the individual.This "Norton Critical Edition" of Maggie: A Girl of the Streets is richly endowed with insightful essays concerning the author and his craft. Some of these, for example, provide crucial biographical and contextual information concerning the development of Crane's social and religious views; others examine the author's usage of irony, satire, symbolism, and American naturalism in the novel. One of my favorite essays was Katherine G. Simoneaux's "Color Imagery in Crane's Maggie: A Girl of the Streets," which highlights Crane's skillful usage of color imagery to evoke a variety of emotions in the reader. I highly recommend this first-time novel by one of America's greatest authors to all aficionados of American literature, historians of the Gilded Age, or the general reader in search of a "good read."

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This is a gut wrenching story, but well worth the effort.

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Stephen Crane didn't live very long, but he left an impressive body of work nonetheless. You can read his biography, you can read "The Red Badge of Courage" too. People said that was the best novel to come out on the Civil War and couldn't believe that the author had not even been born when the war ended. He is acclaimed as the first American writer of the Naturalistic school. That may be so, in any case, he was so forthright about the society he saw that he couldn't get published for some time. I think the most impressive thing about Crane's writing is his psychological insight, the depth of his portraits---all the more impressive since he was so young. That is what motivates me to give MAGGIE five stars. Perhaps it is not a novel in which a lot happens. However, not only are the times in the poorest sections of New York brilliantly described, dialect, slang and all, but you find, laid out before you, a description of poverty the world over. You find the violence, the substance abuse (alcohol in this case), the hand-to-mouth quality of life, police brutality or indifference, the lack of education and exposure to anything beyond "the hood". This is a portrait of slums without African-Americans or Latinos, but a portrait which may bring startlingly familiar patterns of behavior to light. If you ever wanted proof that the problem is not race or ethnicity, but poverty, ignorance, and the sinkhole these create, here it is. Maggie is less the protagonist than her family and their nasty existence. Can you visualize another ending for this story ? Probably not, except just `more of the same'. The story itself is one as old as time; its accoutrements are brilliant. American literature, American social history, a bit of rough humor, a good story---you shouldn't miss this book.

This is a great American classic which I studied as a literature major at a prestigious university known for its literature department. It was not written for pleasure reading. Not every piece of literature or cinema production is for people's entertainment. If you cannot deal with the dialect, it is not the book's or author's failing. The dialect is there for a reason. Give me a break. Don't modern readers understand the concept of 'literature'; or has TV taught only useless, fun, entertaining junk? Quality work entertains and expresses and is often uncomfortable. That which only entertains is what should be ignored. That is the junk to be disposed of.This story by Crane (a great American author) is a classic and of course worth reading. Modern readers don't know how to read older literature unless they are students or fans of it. It is sad to know that many great Americans, the Washingtons, Jeffersons, Jameses, and Howells (those who could afford school) were reading books in elementary school that modern American readers cannot handle in their adult lives.

If I were pressed to use one word to describe this book itwould be dark. However, Crane's novel is a moving piece with momentsof transcendence and rampant dark humor. Basically, it is the story of Maggie, an undeveloped character who takes the back-seat to her loud and abusive parents, her swaggering, self-confident brother Jimmie and his friend, the boastful Pete. The novel chronicles the injustices that surround Maggie, who is quiet and doesn't fight back. A chilling look at poor, urban life in the late 1800's, it is also a tale critical of society's judgmentality and questioning of morality. A more complex novel than it seems on first look, it is wonderful to take apart and examine the relationship between Maggie and Pete, Maggie and her mother, and Maggie and Jimmie. Most importantly, however, are the quiet moments of transcendence in this novel.

If you have to purchase this short story for university/school other study reasons then this edition is the one to get - it includes loads of helpful critical essays.However, if you're thinking of purchasing the book as a good read or entertaining story, don't bother. Whilst it's mildly interesting as an example of the beginning of the Naturalism movement in America, it's not particularly absorbing and despite the story only actually taking up about 60 pages, I found it difficult to read, certainly the very opposite of a page-turner.Nothing really happens in it and the ending remains disappointingly ambiguous. Also, for a story which aimed to be realistic, the motivations of the characters are not very well examined and many of their actions seem, quite frankly, bizarre. Maggie's mother and brother are basically reduced to charicatures of the 'angry, violent, working class', without much thought given to the reasons behind their behaviour.Basically, not worth reading unless you have to.

Great item, quick delivery, no problems.

la migliore edizione sul mercato inglese. consigliata.