Stephen Crane's Status As The Pioneer Of American Naturalistic Literature

Stephen Crane is a genius in the history of American literature, his special and mysterious life has left readers a large amount of literary works. Although he leads a very short life, readers still enjoy a lot from his works. America had witnessed the decline of realism in the last century, and Crane has brought a refreshing literary school. Readers can sense a clear development of literary naturalism when chronologically read Stephen Crane's three representative works:Maggie:A Girl of the Streets, The Red Badge of Courage and "The Open Boat". More and more works of Crane have been studied by critics both at home and broad, with the exeption of most of his poems. The Red Badge of Courage, for instance, has already been under systematic study. Therefore, considering the blank of a systematic study on Stephen Crane's status as a pioneer of American naturalistic literature, which indeed holds great value, the writer of this dissertation intends to analyze his unique writing skills and deep concern on human in his literary creation through crystalizing three of his representative works, namely Maggie:A Girl of the Street, The Red Badge of Courage and "The Open Boat". Additionally, by conducting comparison between Stephen Crane and the other representative writers as Hamlin Garland, Franklin Norris, Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser and Jack London concerning their naturalistic creation, the writer of this paper finds out that Stephen Crane's unique writing styles make him undoubtedly the pioneer of American naturalistic literature. His first adoption of psyche-depiction in his works; his growing concern on human, human's ability to awaken and self-acceptance can all serve as evidence for his title as the pioneer of American naturalistic literature.