Stephen Crane

Ashley McCann

American Literature II

Stephen Crane Biography

1871 – 1900

Stephen lived a very short life but was still able to publish a large volume of items. He was the son of a minister but rejected all forms of organized religion. His father died when he was only nine years old and his mother moved the family to New Jersey. He attended college but only for two years quitting after his mother passed away. Moving to New York, he worked as a free lance writer and journalist. It was there that he wrote his first novel, “Maggie, A Girl of the Streets”. It didn’t sell well but it brought him attention from an individual who provided the financial backing to write his most famous and successful novel, “The Red Badge of Courage” .The success of this novel broke him fame and fortune. His background in journalism gave him the knowledge to write in a realistic manner. Although he never fought in a war, his realistic descriptions of the battlefield were praised by veterans as being very close to reality. His interest in war brought him to Cuba to write about the rebellion against the Spanish. He also covered the Spanish American War and wrote about Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders.  He also used his personal experiences to fill his stories. For example, he was a passenger on the “The Commodore” and its sinking gave him the idea for his story “The Open Boat”. Crane’s association with a former brothel owner did not help his reputation. He became the target of vicious false rumors that drove him to leave America and settle in England.  Unfortunately, he squandered his fortune by spending freely on parties and friends. His disregard for his own health contributed to his early death.   Despite his success, when he died from complications of tuberculosis, he was deeply in debt.  

                                                           Crane's Contribution to Literature

Crane liked to write adventure stories and focused much on the struggle of man versus nature. He was an early writer in the style of realism and naturalism. He was also very influenced by the impressionist painters. Many passages in his stories and novels drew a picture in the mind of the reader very similar to these paintings. Like most of the realist novelists, he rejected the romanticists and wrote very vivid and brutal descriptions. He used the crude language of his characters and was not afraid to examine the very ugly side of life. This was very true of the writing in his first novel, “Maggie, a Girl of the Streets”. The novel was not well received and received some criticism for its too realistic descriptions of life on the streets of New York. But it was also praised for this same element and was the beginning of his use of realism in his writing. He also described the indifference of nature to man’s problems. “The Open Boat” is an example of his belief that man must struggle with nature and cannot expect God to intervene. This story also allowed him to express his strong anti-religion stance. The men in the boat never appeal to God in their perilous situation. Crane writes the story as man raging against nature. He also showed his anti war feeling in “The Red Badge of Courage”. War veterans praised this novel as being very realistic in its descriptions of the horrors of war. Some critics have found it difficult to put him in a specific category of writers, seeing elements of realism, impressionism, and naturalism. He was also influential in his use of imagery. He consciously designed his writing to use colors and objects to tell the story more vividly.  He was a major influence on later authors like Ernest Hemingway. 

Sources:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Crane

http://kirjasto.sci.fi/scrane.htm

www.online-literature.com/crane/