The poetics of Stephen Crane’s late novels” I. Introduction. II. The contribution of S. Crane to the development of American naturalism

2.2. Stephen Crane-fountainhead of American naturalism
Stephen Crane (1871-1900) was an American writer, journalist and war correspondent, who appeared in literature like lightning in the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries. During his short but fruitful life, he created a number of novels, short stories, and 200 articles and essays for the literary treasure of the country. He wrote in the realist tradition, as well as early examples of American naturalism and impressionism, and is recognized by contemporary critics as one of the most innovative writers of his generation . Born in Newark, New Jersey, Crane was the youngest in a family of 14 children and he entered the creative world of literature early, at the age of 14, and his first prose work was called "Uncle Jake and the Bell". His desire to write was inspired by his family: his father, a Methodist minister, and his mother, a devout woman dedicated to social concerns, were writers of religious articles, and two of his brothers were journalists. Crane began his higher education in 1888 at Hudson River Institute and Claverack College, a military school where he nurtured his interest in Civil War studies and military training. Throughout his college years, Crane wrote, working as a freelance writer for his brother's news service, and it is thought that he wrote the preliminary sketch of Maggie while still at Syracuse University. In 1891, deciding that "humanity was a more interesting study than the college curriculum “, Crane quit school to work full time as a reporter with his brother and part time for the New York Tribune. In New York he lived a bohemian existence among the local artists and became well acquainted with life in the Bowery; from his first-hand knowledge of poverty during this period he was able to realistically depict tenement life in his writings. In 1893 Crane privately published his first novella, Maggie, under a pseudonym after several publishers rejected the work on the grounds that his description of slum realities would shock readers. Most critics suggest that the novel was a major development in American literary naturalism and that it introduced Crane's vision of life as warfare: influenced by the Darwinism of the times, Crane viewed individuals as victims of purposeless forces and believed that they encountered only hostility in their relationships with other individuals, with society, with nature, and with God. Also prominent in his first novel is an ironic technique that exposes the hypocrisy of moral tenets when they are set against the sordid reality of slum life. Although Maggie received the support of such literary figures as Hamlin Garland and William Dean Howells, it was not a success. It was not until 1896, after Crane tempered the brutalities in a second edition, that the work received wide recognition. In 1895 he wrote his well known novel “ The Red badge of the courage “ which was widely called as “war novel “ at its time. Written thirty years after the end of the Civil War and before Crane had any war experience, “The Red Badge of the Courage” was methodologically and psychologically innovative. Mostly a war novel described as , it focuses less on the combat and more on the protagonist's psyche, his reactions and responses to the war. In the limited perspective of the third person told, it reflects the personal experience of Henry Fleming, a young soldier who fled the battle. Like Crane's first novel, The Red Badge of the Courage “ is deeply ironic. way as it goes on, the tone gets louder. The title of the piece is ironic; Reflecting his desire to be wounded in battle, Henry dreams that "he too has a wound, a red badge of courage." His wound (running away Union from a soldier's rifle mount) was not a badge of courage, but a badge of shame. In his themes and styles, Crane is an avant-garde writer. The New York City sketch, "A Detail," was reprinted in 1898 with "The Open Boat," and the two works express parallel naturalistic themes. In both, individuals are shown to struggle for communication while being buffeted by tumultuous forces.One of Stephen Crane's more famous quotes come from his story “ The Open Boat”: When it occurs to a man that nature does not regard him as important, and that she feels she would not maim the universe by disposing of him, he at first wishes to throw bricks at the temple, and he hates deeply the fact that there are no bricks and no temples." Crane was a "star" journalist, and he published many of his best fictional works in the popular press. Nonetheless his comment that a newspaper is a "collection of half-injustices" indicates his skepticism about that medium of communication.
Stephen Crane yaratgan asarlar 19 asr Amerika adabiyoti uchun yangilik edi . Shuning uchun u yaratga asarlar tanqidchilar va o’quvchilarni hayratda qoldirdi. Faqatgina uning iste’dodini va yozush mahoratini yaqindan bilgan do’sti va hamsuhbatdoshi Hamlin Garland uning iste’dodiga yuqori baho bergan va “ His style is too individual , his imagination too powerfull” deb yozgan edi. Hamlin Garland o’zining maqolalaridan birida u haqida “ ….America has produced another genius as singular as Poe “ deb Stephen Craneni Edgar Alan Poega tenglashtiradi.
Bundan tashqari Kreyn umri davomida ko’plab asarlar yaratdi . Bular : George’s Mother, 1896; “The Third Violet”, 1897; “The Monster, and Other Stories, 1899; “Whilomville Stories” 1900; “ Active Service “, 1899; “ The O’Ruddy” : A Romance, 1903 (with Robert Barr). Nonfiction: “The Great Battles of the World”, 1901; “ The War Dispatches of Stephen Crane”, 1964. Poetry: “The Black Riders and Other Lines, 1895; “ASouvenir and a Medley”, 1896; “War Is Kind, 1899”; va boshqalar.Bular ichidan eng mashhurlari va naturalistik uslubda yozilganlari hamda tanqidchilar tomonida ko’proq e’tirof etilganlari uning “ Maggie a girl of streets “ , “The red badge of the courage “ romanlari and “The open boat “hikoyasidir. Quyida biz shu asarlarning yaratilishi tarixi va ularga qisqacha izohlar berib o’tamiz.

“Maggie a girl of streets”

The story centers on Maggie, a young girl from the Bowery who is driven to unfortunate circumstances by poverty and solitude. The work was considered risqué by publishers because of its literary realism and strong themes.The story opens with Jimmie, at this point a young boy, trying by himself to fight a gang of boys from an opposing neighborhood. He is saved by his friend, Pete, and comes home to his sister, Maggie, his toddling brother, Tommie, his brutal and drunken father, and mother, Mary Johnson. The parents, Irish immigrants, terrify the children until they are shuddering inthe corner. Years pass, Tommie and his father die as Jimmie hardens into a sneering, aggressive, cynical youth. He gets a job as a teamster, having no regard for anyone but firetrucks who would run him down. Maggie begins to work in a shirt factory, but her attempts to improve her life are undermined by her mother's drunken rages. Maggie begins to date Jimmie's friend Pete, who has a job as a bartender and seems a very fine fellow, convinced that he will help her escape the life she leads. He takes her to the theater and the museum. One night Jimmie and Mary accuse Maggie of "Goin to deh devil", essentially kicking her out of the tenement, throwing her lot in with Pete. Jimmie goes to Pete's bar and picks a fight with him (even though he himself has ruined other boys' sisters). As the neighbors continue to talk about Maggie, Jimmie and Mary decide to join them in badmouthing her instead of defending her.
Later, Nellie, a "woman of brilliance and audacity" convinces Pete to leave Maggie, whom she calls "a little pale thing with no spirit." Thus abandoned, Maggie tries to return home but is rejected by her mother and scorned by the entire tenement. In a later scene, a prostitute, implied to be Maggie, wanders the streets, moving into progressively worse neighborhoods until, reaching the river, she is followed by a grotesque and shabby man. The next scene shows Pete drinking in a saloon with six fashionable women "of brilliance and audacity." He passes out, whereupon one, possibly Nellie, takes his money. In the final chapter, Jimmie tells his mother that Maggie is dead. The mother exclaims, ironically, as the neighbors comfort her, "I'll forgive her!"
Main characters
Jimmie Johnson: An eldest brother of Maggie and Tommie's brother, who first appears in the beginning scene fighting a gang war of some sort with the Rum Alley Children. Serves as a foil to Maggie.
Pete: A teenager, in the beginning, who is an acquaintance of Jimmie, and saves Jimmie in the fight. Later, he seduces Maggie and breaks her of her romantic viewpoints.
Father: The brutal, drunkard father of Jimmie, Maggie, and Tommie.
Maggie Johnson: The Johnsons' middle child, protagonist of the story, apparently immune to the after-effects of the negative family. She is seduced by Pete and is seen as effectively ruined. She is implied to have become a prostitute at the end of the novel and dies an early death.
Tommie Johnson: The youngest Johnson child who dies an early death.
Mary Johnson: The drunkard and brutal mother who drives Maggie out of the house.
Nellie: Pete's friend, who convinces him to leave Maggie.