Rent In the Depths of a Coal Mine: With a New Introduction: Background and Relevance Today

Synopsis

Crane's "In the Depths of a Coal Mine" was originally published in McClure's Magazine, August 1894. S.S. McClure hired Crane, together with illustrator Corwin L. Linson, to write and illustrate a descriptive essay about the everyday horrors encountered in working in a typical American coal mine at the turn of the twentieth century. They toured, for two days, the Oxford Coal Mine in Scranton in the heart of Pennsylvania anthracite coal country. Their findings were quite graphic in showing the inhumane conditions and dangers of the mine, so much so that the essay was referenced in a healthcare bill for retired miners proposed by Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania in the twenty-first century. Through both word and illustration, writer and illustrator show the life-threatening conditions in mine labor shared by all the workers, from the young, lowly "pickers" to the older men doing the digging. The essay appeared during a time in American history when there were no regulations on the mines, and injuries and death to those working in the mines ran rampant. In a new introduction, Donna M. Northouse provides close examination of the literary and historical value of Crane's essay, its historical context, the aesthetic value of LInson's black-and-white charcoal illustrations, plus pertinent biographical information on Crane, Linson, and their friendship. The introduction ends with a survey of mining accidents beginning in 1860's America plus relevant political events, and Congressional legislation through 2019. Other sections of the book reprint the five paragraphs McClure's deleted from the holograph version of the manuscript and scholarship surrounding the variations in texts in the newspaper versions compared to the holograph manuscript and McClure's Magazine version.

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