Stephen crane best known works
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Born in November 1871 in Newark, New Jersey, Stephen Crane was the youngest of fourteen children. After his father died in 1880, Crane was raised by his mother, a writer who contributed to various Methodist papers.
As a young man, Crane dropped out of college and moved to New York City, where he wrote freelance articles about life in the Bowery slum. Crane first gained recognition as a great novelist with his second novel, The Red Badge of Courage. In addition to his newspaper correspondence, Crane wrote write six novels, eight story collections, and two volumes of poetry before his death from tuberculosis at age 28.
Critics consider Crane an early pioneer of the genre of naturalism, due to his realistic depictions of characters who are not in control of their lives but are strongly affected by natural forces, either external or emotional.
Study Guides on Works by Stephen Crane
The Blue HotelStephen Crane
“The Blue Hotel” is either a very long short story or a fairly short novella. Either way, it was roundly met with universal rejection by every periodical to which it was initially submitted by Stephen Crane. Popular publishers of the time from...
The Bride Comes to Yellow SkyStephen Crane
"The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky" was written in England, although its author, Stephen Crane, and its protagonist, Jack Potter, are American. The story tells of Potter's return to the town of Yellow Sky with his bride, who comes from the east. He...
Maggie: A Girl of the Streets and Other StoriesStephen Crane
"The Open Boat" and Other Stories is a collection of four stories by Stephen Crane, listed in chronological order as follows: “Maggie: A Girl of the Streets” (1893), “The Open Boat” (1897), “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky” (1898), and “The Blue...
The Open BoatStephen Crane
Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat" is a short story about four men stranded in a small rowboat in ro
Stephen Crane
American novelist, short story writer, poet, and journalist
For other people named Stephen Crane, see Stephen Crane (disambiguation).
Stephen Crane | |
|---|---|
Formal portrait of Stephen Crane, about March 1896 | |
| Born | (1871-11-01)November 1, 1871 Newark, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | June 5, 1900(1900-06-05) (aged 28) Badenweiler, Grand Duchy of Baden, German Empire |
| Occupation | Writer |
Stephen Crane (November 1, 1871 – June 5, 1900) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. Prolific throughout his short life, he wrote notable works in the Realist tradition as well as early examples of American Naturalism and Impressionism. He is recognized by modern critics as one of the most innovative writers of his generation.
The ninth surviving child of Methodist parents, Crane began writing at the age of four and had several articles published by 16. Having little interest in university studies though he was active in a fraternity, he left Syracuse University in 1891 to work as a reporter and writer. Crane's first novel was the 1893 Bowery tale Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, generally considered by critics to be the first work of American literary Naturalism. He won international acclaim for his Civil War novel The Red Badge of Courage (1895), considered a masterpiece by critics and writers.
In 1896, Crane endured a highly publicized scandal after appearing as a witness in the trial of a suspected prostitute, an acquaintance named Dora Clark. Late that year, he accepted an offer to travel to Cuba as a war correspondent. As he waited in Jacksonville, Florida, for passage, he met Cora Taylor, with whom he began a lasting relationship. En route to Cuba, Crane's vessel, the SS Commodore, sank off the coast of Florida, leaving him adrift for 30 hours in a dinghy. Crane described the ordeal in "The Open Boat". During the final years of his life, he covered conflicts in Greece (accompanied by Cora, recognized as (1871-1900) One of America's most influential realist writers, Stephen Crane produced works that have been credited with establishing the foundations of modern American naturalism. His Civil War novel The Red Badge of Courage (1895) realistically depicts the psychological complexities of battlefield emotion and has become a literary classic. He is also known for authoring Maggie: A Girl of the Streets. Born on November 1, 1871, in Newark, New Jersey, Crane was the 14th and last child of writer/suffragist Mary Helen Peck Crane and Reverend Jonathan Townley Crane, a Methodist Episcopal minister. Raised by his older sister Agnes, the young Crane attended preparatory school at Claverack College. He later spent less than two years overall as a college student at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, and then at Syracuse University in upstate New York. He then moved to Paterson, New Jersey with one of his brothers and made frequent trips to nearby New York City, writing short pieces on what he experienced there. Crane truly embarked upon a literary career in the early 1890s when he moved to New York and began freelancing as a writer, coming to work for the New York Tribune. Living a bohemian lifestyle among local artists, Crane gained firsthand familiarity with poverty and street life, focusing his writing efforts on New York's downtrodden tenement districts, particularly the Bowery. A once-thriving area in the southern part of Manhattan, the post-Civil War era saw the Bowery's busy shops and hulking mansions replaced by saloons, dance halls and brothels. Crane immersed himself into this world. While Crane most likely had completed an early draft of his first book, the novella Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (1893), while studying at Syracuse, it wasn't until after moving to New York that he rewrote and finalized the piece—its pages for Great Short Works
I was struck by how relentlessly Crane punishes his protagonists — especially in “Maggie, a Girl of the Streets” — how heavy-handed he is in depicting their brutality and degradation. This goes beyond realism to what might better be termed impressionism; there is a strange beauty to the ugliness of the pictures he paints, reminiscent of impressionist paintings that depict old, ravaged, misshapen human figures. This is prose of a very high calling.
“The Monster” is a bit of very dark humor, a study in the mob mentality of a community held captive to its own idle gossip. “An Experiment in Misery” particularly stands out: a truly brilliant sketch depicting an aimless existence, a perverse state of bare survival that drifts from moment to moment.
“The Open Boat” perhaps most eloquently sets forth Crane’s philosophy, of man’s futile struggle with himself and his destiny. “The Pace of Youth” and “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky” are somewhat lighter; nevertheless, each has much to say about the human condition.
The final story “The Blue Hotel” is perhaps the most disturbing of all. Hell-bent upon a self-destructive path, a man falls victim to his own delusions and sweeps those around him into his crazed downfall.
All in all, these are dark, unsettling stories. A master Stephen Crane
Who Was Stephen Crane?
Early Years and Education
Bowery Bohemian
'Maggie: A Girl of the Streets'