Maggie: A Girl of the Streets

Maggie: A Girl of the Streets is an 1893 tragic novella by American author Stephen Crane (1871–1900). The story centers on Margaret "Maggie" Johnson, an 18-year-old girl from the Bowery who is driven to prostitution due to failed relationship with a young man named Pete Murphy who leaves her for another girl named Nellie Griffiths, and also due to poverty and solitude. The work was considered risqué by publishers because of its literary realism and strong themes. Crane – who was 21 years old at the time – financed the book's publication himself, although the original 1893 edition was printed under the pseudonym Johnston Smith. After the success of 1895's The Red Badge of Courage, Maggie was reissued in 1896 with considerable changes and re-writing. The story is followed by George's Mother.