Name Anne Crane Role Writer | Died 1872 Books Reginald Archer: A Novel | |
Anne Moncure Crane (Seemüller) (January 7, 1838 – December 10, 1872) was an American writer of the popular novels Emily Chester, Opportunity and Reginald Archer. Her writing explored female sexual desire, making it controversial in some quarters of post-Civil War American society. The author Henry James, among others, was influenced by Crane's books.
Contents
Crane's reputation was securely established by the unique success of Emily Chester. As a result she was solicited for contributions by the leading periodicals and article followed article, poem succeeded poem, in swift and almost ceaseless outflow— verse and prose. In 1867, her second novel, Opportunity, made its appearance. It displayed a finer grasp of her art than the preceding work and was received in all directions with enthusiastic praise. In April, 1871, Crane, then Mrs. Augustus Seemuller of New York, having been married in 1869, published her third and last novel, Reginald Archer. It was a portrayal of the vices and follies that prevail in the world of fashion and elicited much hostile comment, for such is the inevitable fate of the author who converts his art into a didactic agent or an instrument of moral reform. An admirable tribute to Miss Crane, just, discriminating, comprehensive, was written for "The Galaxy," not long after her death, by Eugene L. Didier of Baltimore.
She wrote, as it were, by inspiration, and was fond of quoting, with all reverence, the words of the beloved disciple, "the angel said unto me, 'Write,' and I wrote," as the only explanation she could suggest for the mystery of her rich creative faculty.
Early years
Crane was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1838, daughter of William and Jean Crane. Her family were merchants and led a comfortable middle class lifestyle. An ancestor, Thomas Stone, had signed the Declaration of Independence - an illustrious connection that would later be attached to one of Crane's literary characters. Crane was taught by a local pastor, the Reverend N.A. Morrison.
Career
Crane married Augustus Seemüller, a New York merchant, in 1869. They left Baltimore to settle in New York City. Crane thereafter lived in relative comfort and was able to afford several tours of Europe. She died in Stuttgart, Germany, where she had gone to "take the waters" in the hope of relief from chronic hepatitis. Her remains, as well as her husband's, are interred beside her father's in Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore.
Prior to the publication of her three novels, Crane wrote several short stories for the Galaxy and Putnam's Monthly. In 1873, a collection of miscellaneous essays was published posthumously.
Emily Chester was published in 1864 and proved surprisingly popular. The book went through ten editions and was published in Europe as well as the United States. A dramatic play based on the book was even created, exploiting the intriguing new set-up that Crane had introduced – the respectable woman tempted to the verge of adultery, and the resulting effect that the moral predicament has on her personally.
Her second book, entitled Opportunity, was published at the close of 1867, and was welcomed by the many admirers of Emily Chester, although it did not create such a furore. It was thus noticed in a Southern journal, by Paul H. Hayne, a poet:
"This is no common romance. Depending but slightly upon the nature of its plot and outward incidents, its power is almost wholly concentrated upon a deep, faithful, subtle analysis of character. Indeed, it is rather a series of peculiar psychological studies, than a novel in the ordinary sense of the term.
Two male characters brothers divide the reader's interest. One is a brilliant, susceptible, but frivolous
nature, possessing, no doubt, capacities for good, yet too feeble to arrest and to develop them. The other is a strong, passionate, manly, upright soul, who, in the blackest hours of misfortune and doubt, feels that there are instinctive spiritual truths which a man must cling to, would he avoid destruction. These brothers, so diverse in temperament, encounter and fall in love with the same woman.
We close our notice of Miss Crane's production with the remark that no tale has recently appeared, North or South, which is so full of rich evidences of genuine psychological power, a profound study of character in some of
Cranes third book was Reginald Archer published in 1871. Habegger claimed that the protagonist of this novel, Christie Archer, was the inspiration for The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James.
She died in Stuttgart, Germany.