Publisher Description
Originally published pseudonymously in 1893, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets follows the tragic tale of Maggie and her life in the harsh streets and tenements of the New York City Bowery district. Initially rejected by publishers for being viewed as too brutal and accurate in its descriptions of poverty and female sexuality, Stephen Crane published the work at his own expense. Following the success of Crane’s novel The Red Badge of Courage, this novel was reissued in 1896 with extensive rewrites and edits. Generally considered to be the first work of American Naturalism, Crane combines exhaustive research and an attention to detail to create an accurate depiction of life for the working poor at the turn of the century in the slums of New York City. In Maggie’s struggle to find love, acceptance, and economic security, Crane creates a portrait which mirrors the struggle of all the women of America at the end of the nineteenth century.
In addition to Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, the collection includes short stories featuring Crane’s gritty exploration of New York City. As a newspaper reporter working from a home base in nearby Paterson, New Jersey, Crane made frequent day trips into New York City and spent considerable time in the tenement districts and especially the Bowery.
Download and start listening now!
“A powerful, severe, and harshly comic portrayal of Irish immigrant life in lower New York.”
—
Alfred Kazin, author of A Walker in the City
About Stephen Crane
Stephen Crane (1871–1900) was an American novelist, poet, and journalist. He worked as a reporter of slum life in New York and a highly paid war correspondent for newspaper tycoons William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer. He wrote many works of fiction, poems, and accounts of war, all well received but none as acclaimed as his 1895 Civil War novel, The Red Badge of Courage. Today he is considered one of the most innovative American writers of the 1890s and one of the founders of literary realism.
About the Narrators
Gabrielle de Cuir, award-winning narrator, has narrated over three hundred titles and specializes in fantasy, humor, and titles requiring extensive foreign language and accent skills. She was a cowinner of the Audie Award for best narration in 2011 and a three-time finalist for the Audie and has garnered six AudioFile Earphones Awards. Her “velvet touch” as an actor’s director has earned her a special place in the audiobook world as the foremost producer for bestselling authors and celebrities.
Stefan Rudnicki first became involved with audiobooks in 1994. Now a Grammy-winning audiobook producer, he has worked on more than five thousand audiobooks as a narrator, writer, producer, or director. He has narrated more than nine hundred audiobooks. A recipient of multiple AudioFile Earphones Awards, he was presented the coveted Audie Award for solo narration in 2005, 2007, and 2014, and was named one of AudioFile’s Golden Voices in 2012.