From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Stephen Crane (November 1,
1871 – June 5, 1900) was an American novelist,
short story writer, poet and journalist. 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 eighth surviving child of highly devout parents, Crane was raised in
several New
Jersey towns and Port
Jervis, New
York. He began writing at the age of 4 and had published several articles
by the age of 16. Having little interest in university studies, he left school
in 1891 and began work as a reporter and writer. Crane's first novel was the
1893 Bowery tale
Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, which critics generally consider the
first work of American literary Naturalism. He won international acclaim for
his 1895 Civil
War novel The
Red Badge of Courage, which he wrote without any battle experience.
In 1896, Crane endured a highly publicized scandal after acting as a witness
for a suspected prostitute. Late that year he accepted an offer to cover the Spanish-American
War as a war
correspondent. As he waited in Jacksonville,
Florida for passage to Cuba, he
met Cora
Taylor, the madam of a brothel with whom he would have a lasting
relationship. While en route to
Cuba, Crane's ship sank off the coast of Florida, leaving him marooned for
several days in a small dinghy.
His ordeal was later described in his well-known short story, "The
Open Boat". During the final years of his life, he covered conflicts in Greece and
Cuba, and lived in England with
Cora, where he befriended writers such as Joseph
Conrad and H.
G. Wells. Plagued by financial difficulties and ill health, Crane died of tuberculosis in
a Black
Forest sanatorium at the age of
28.
At the time of his death, Crane had become an important figure in American
literature. He was nearly forgotten, however, until two decades later when
critics revived interest in his life and work. Stylistically, Crane's writing
is characterized by descriptive vividness and intensity, as well as
distinctive dialects and irony.
Common themes involve fear, spiritual crisis and social isolation. Although
recognized primarily for The Red
Badge of Courage, which has become an American classic, Crane is also
known for his unconventional poetry and heralded for short stories such as
"The Open Boat", "The Blue Hotel", "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky", and The
Monster. His writing made a deep impression on 20th century writers,
most prominent among them Ernest
Hemingway, and is thought to have inspired the Modernists and
the Imagists.
Biography
Early
years
Stephen Crane was born November 1, 1871, in Newark,
New Jersey, to Reverend
Jonathan Townley Crane, a minister in the Methodist
Episcopal church, and Mary Helen Peck Crane, a clergyman's
daughter.[1] He
was the fourteenth and last child born to the couple; the 45 year old Helen
Crane had lost her four previous children, who each died within one year of
birth.[2] Nicknamed
"Stevie" by the family, he joined eight surviving brothers and sisters—Mary
Helen, George Peck, Jonathan Townley, William Howe, Agnes Elizabeth, Edmund
Byran, Wilbur Fiske, and Luther.[3]
The Cranes were descended from Jaspar Crane, a founder of New
Haven Colony, who had traveled there from England in 1639.[4] Stephen
was named for a supposed founder of
Elizabethtown, New Jersey, who had, according to family tradition, come
from England or Wales as early as 1665,[5] as
well as his great-great grandfather Stephen
Crane (1709–1780), a Revolutionary
War patriot who served as New
Jersey delegate to the First
Continental Congress in Philadelphia.[6] Crane
would later write that his father, Dr. Crane, "was a great, fine, simple mind"
who had written numerous tracts on theology.[7] Although
his mother was a popular spokeswoman for the Woman's
Christian Temperance Union and a highly religious woman, Crane did not
believe that "she was as narrow as most of her friends or family."[8] The
young Stephen was raised primarily by his sister Agnes, who was 15 years his
senior.[6] In
1876, the family moved to Port
Jervis, New York, where Dr. Crane became the pastor of Drew Methodist
Church, a position that he retained until his death.[6]
As a child, Stephen was often sickly and afflicted by constant colds.[9] When
the boy was almost two, his father wrote in his diary that his youngest son
became "so sick that we are anxious about him." Despite his fragile nature,
Crane was a precocious child who taught himself to read before the age of
four.[3] His
first known inquiry, recorded by his father, dealt with writing; at the age of
three, while imitating his brother Townley's writing, he asked his mother,
"how do you spell O?"[10] In
December 1879, Crane wrote a poem about wanting a dog for Christmas. Entitled
"I'd Rather Have –", it is his first surviving poem.[11] Stephen
was not regularly enrolled in school until January 1880,[12] but
he had no difficulty in completing two grades in six weeks. Recalling this
feat, he wrote that it "sounds like the lie of a fond mother at a teaparty,
but I do remember that I got ahead very fast and that father was very pleased
with me."[13]
Dr. Crane died on February 16, 1880, at the age of 60; Stephen was eight years
old. Some 1,400 people mourned Dr. Crane at his funeral, more than double the
size of his congregation.[14] After
her husband's death, Mrs. Crane moved to Roseville,
near Newark. She left Stephen in the care of his brother Edmund, with whom the
young boy lived with cousins in Sussex County. He then lived with his brother
William in Port Jervis for several years, until he and his sister Helen moved
to Asbury
Park to be with their brother
Townley and his wife. Townley was a professional journalist; he headed the
Long Branch department of both the New
York Tribune and the Associated
Press and also served as
editor of the Asbury Park Shore
Press. Agnes took a position at Asbury Park's intermediate school and
moved in with Helen to care for the young Stephen.[15] Within
a couple of years, several more losses struck the Crane family. First,
Townley's wife, Fannie, died of Bright's
disease in 1883 after the
deaths of the couple's two young children. Agnes then became ill and died on
June 10, 1884, of cerebrospinal
meningitis at the age of 28.[16]