Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1996. [Vol. 3.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 23)

STUDIES - M. Thomas Inge: Sam Watkins and the Fictionality of Fact

along, when all at once he dropped down and died without a struggle or a groan (W, 68—69). Finally, Watkins frequently reflects on the tranquillity of nature which serves as a reminder of continuity in the scheme of things and the futile efforts of man to wreak havoc on the world, as in his final paragraph: The tale is told. The world moves on, the sun shines as brightly as before, the flowers bloom as beautifully, the birds sing their carols as sweetly, the trees nod and bow their leafy tops as if slumbering in the breeze, ... and the scene melts and gradually disappears forever (W, 336). Crane is a bit more explicit: As he gazed around him the youth felt a flash of astonishment at the blue, pure sky and the sun gleamings on the trees and the fields. It was surprising that Nature had gone tranquilly on with her golden process in the midst of so much devilment (RB, 116). And like Watkins, Crane's final line rests with nature: "Over the river a golden ray of sun came through the hosts of leaden rain clouds" (RB, 212). These and additional parallels do suggest that "Co. Aytch" may have served as a source or is at least an analogue for Crane's novel, but I do not mean to suggest that Watkins is Crane's equal as a writer. Crane's wonderfully concise, poetically vivid, and psychologically accurate prose is one of the treasures of American literature. It is interesting to note that in these examples, as in others, both resorted to similar images and ideas, and Watkins has his own power deriving from an ability to describe his actual experiences without the adornment and romantic distancing characteristic of most commentators on the Civil War. Both give us an unadorned realism in prose, but one writes history and the other fiction. Watkins also provides us with scenes and events which, as far as I know, have no parallels in the fiction of his time. For example, there is 55