A Comparative Essay of Stephen Crane’s Life and Literature

Stephen Crane was born the 14th child of a Methodist minister in Newark, New Jersey. His mother was an active member of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, and published some fiction. Both of Crane’s parents did some writing and two of his brothers became newspapermen. His early life consisted of moving multiple times in the New Jersey area.

Crane enrolled at both Lafayette College and Syracuse University, but stayed long at neither. After his mother's death in 1890 (his father had already passed away) Crane moved to New York. He supported himself as a free-lance writer and journalist. While in New York, Crane began research for his first novel, Maggie. Although publishers turned down his book as to realistic, Crane published the book at his own expense, on money he had borrowed from his brother, and included in the foreword that “it is [was] inevitable that you be greatly shocked by this book, but continue, please, with all possible courage to the end.” It was praised by realist writers of the period as stunningly accurate.

Crane’s next major work was The Red Badge of Courage, which he completed and published in 1895, brought him international acclaim. He gained valuable friends such as Hamlin Garland and William Dean Howells. Readers of the book in England believed that The Red Badge of Courage was written by a veteran soldier, the story was so life-like. Crane, amazingly, said that his ideas for The Red Badge of Courage had come from the football field. His novel follows Henry Fleming on a journey from youthfulness and “the red sickness of battle” to “images of tranquil skies, fresh meadows, cool brooks -- an existence of soft and eternal peace” (Crane 134).

Crane next published a collection of poems titled The Black Rider. This collection was very unconventional in that it used no strict rhyme or meter, yet was not truly freestyle poetry. It was simply stripped and simplified. Crane’s growing fame began to bring him better reporting assignments. He sought after experiences as a war correspondent in combat areas. This search led him to such places as Greece, Cuba, Texas, and Mexico.

One of his more famous stories, titled “The Open Boat,” was based on a true experience. On his way to Cuba in 1896, the coal-burning tug on which Crane was a passenger sank. He and several others spent several days drifting in an open boat before they were rescued. This experience would lead to tuberculosis and eventually be the death of Mr. Crane.

In Greece Crane reported and wrote on the Grecko-Turkish War. He settled in 1898 with Cora Taylor, a well know owner and proprietress of Hotel de Dream, a Jacksonville brothel. He became friends with Joseph Conrad, H.G. Wells, and Henry James. These experiences provoked “The Blue Hotel,” a short story about three visitors to a hotel during a blizzard.

Due to his declining health, Crane was obligated to return to England. He and Cora rented a Sussex estate called Brede Place. Crane died on June 5, 1900 of tuberculosis, worsened by malarial fever he had caught in Cuba. He was 28 - his career had lasted only eight years. His posthumous publications include multiple short stories and poems. Crane introduced modern realism into American literature, and in his best work the use of symbolism added a unique aura of mystique and romanticism.