The Blue Hotel

Though Crane worked in a wide variety of literary movements, including Realism and Naturalism, “The Blue Hotel” is considered primarily an early example of literary Expressionism. This movement became more popular in the early decades of the 20th century, emerging in Northern Europe in the years leading up to World War I. Though Crane is an American author, he spent the latter years of his life in England and Germany, which might have brought him into contact with early Expressionism. Literary Expressionism was most prominent in the genre of theater, particularly in Germany, though American playwrights like Eugene O’Neill deployed expressionist elements toward the end of the movement’s prominence. Poets like T. S. Eliot were also influenced by Expressionism, as well as writers like Franz Kafka, Djuna Barnes, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Thomas Pynchon, and William Faulkner. (It is worth noting that most of these authors’ major works were published after Crane’s death; several of them are said to have been influenced by Crane.) The Expressionists were highly influenced by the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche.

In Expressionist works, reality is often distorted to emphasize the emotional reactions of characters, which their natures and the situations in which they find themselves fuel. Expressionism’s emphasis on subjectivity is sometimes characterized as a reaction to other literary movements, including the scientific bent of Naturalism, which characterized Crane’s earlier Maggie, A Girl of the Streets. Unlike in Maggie, where each character embodies their archetype (to the point of two-dimensionality), characters in “The Blue Hotel” defy the roles their names suggest (i.e., the cowboy is the least active, and the Swede may not really be Swedish). As in Naturalism, however, characters in expressionist literature may be victims of circumstance; they do not act to shape their world, but rather react to inevitable events, leaning into emotion and irrationality over logic.