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.
“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 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...
"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...
Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat" is a short story about four men stranded in a small rowboat in rough seas after their ship capsizes. The men spend over thirty hours in the boat until they wash ashore only to discover that their strongest rower has...
The Red Badge of Courage, a coming-of-age tale set in an unnamed battle of the Civil War (most likely the Battle of Chancellorsville), is Stephen Crane's most famous novel. Serialized in 1894 and published in 1895 when he was only 23, the novel is...
Stephen Crane was an American poet and novelist, and was a key figure in the Naturalism and Impressionism movements. His poems convey themes relating to death, loss, war, religion and love.
Crane’s poetry was unusual for his time, due to the use...
