Stephen Townley CraneBy: Ruben Flores

PART 1

Born: November 1, 1871 in Newark, New Jersey*The 14th and last child of Jonathan and Mary Helen (Peck) Crane*

Died: June 5, 1900 in Badenweiler, Baden- Wurttemberg, Germany*Cause of Death: Tuberculosis*

Parents- Father: Jonathan Townley Crane (1819-1880)- Mother: Mary Helen (Peck) Crane (1827-1891)

***Note***- Only 8 of 13 children who preceded Stephen are alive at the time of his birth: William, Jonathan Jr., Agnes, Wilbur, Edmund, Mary, George, Luther`

About the Author Stephen Crane

- Started writing that 8 and by 16 was writing articles for the New York Tribune

- 1891 moves to New York and becomes free-lance writer

- 1895- 2nd Novel “The Red Badge of Courage” brings him fame

- 1898 Settles in Sussex, England and refines is realism use.

- June 5, 1900 Catches malarial in Cuba which worsens his tuberculosis and he dies

Major Works of Short Stories

- The Open Boat

- The Blue Hotels

- The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky

- The Monster

Education

- Claverack College- Lafayette College- Syracuse University

The Crane House - Historical Background

-Saved from demolition in 1995 through the efforts of Tom and Regina Hayes

- By dedicated volunteers (dubbed the "Crane Crew")

- The Stephen Crane House is Asbury Park's link to great American literature.

-The house was built about 1877 and was then known as "Arbutus Cottage“

It was bought by widow Mary Helen Peck Crane in 1883..

Burial Place

Evergreen Cemetery HillsidePlot: Section C, Lot 168

Union County, New Jersey

Chronology of Writing

- Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (1893)- Black Riders (1895)- The Red Badge of Courage (1895)- George’s Mother (1896)- The Third Violet (1896)-The Little Regiment (1896)- The Open Boat and the Other Stories (1899)- War is Kind (1899)- Active Service (1899)- The Monster and the Other Stories (1899)- Wounds in the Rain (1900)- Whilomville Stories (1900)

Social Views in the 1870’sWarFranco- Prussian War (1870-1871)

Political Events- German Empire and Alliance System emerged- Gilded Age begins in 1874 until 1896- Racial and economic politics in America’s Reconstruction are bitter, pessimistic, and sometimes violent- Presidents of the U.S.A- Ulysses S. Grant (2nd Term1873) and Rutherford B. Hayes (1877)

Science and Technology- Prototype telephone was invented by Alexander Graham bell in 1876- Version of the light bulb was invented by Thomas Edison

Environment- Atlas Bear becomes extinct

PART 2

Critics Opinions

- Debate over his fiction writing should be considered literary moment or method

-The Open Boat, The Blue Hotel laden with symbols and images

- Conveyed personal vision based on his term “quality of personal honesty”

- Pioneered the development of literary naturalism

More Critical Opinions “The Veteran”

- Confidence vs. Fear

- Henry Fleming valiant feeling over shadowed by fear and lack of confidence

- There is a tremendous feeling of Henry’s youth opposing his feelings and thoughts

- Youth vs. Experience

- Images through the use of figurative language

Even More Critical Opinions

- Both figurative language and rhetorical devices is constant throughout the text

- Showing the reader the beauty of nature will prevail

- Nature beauty provides a contrast of beauty in the environment of war

Style of Work

- Realistic- Naturalistic

- Impressionistic

Realism

-Literary Movement that begins during the 1870’s before the Civil War

- Depicts life like it really is

- Pessimistic view of civilization

- It is a reaction against romanticism

Naturalism

- Era that developed out of realism

- People’s lives are forced by nature and or/society

-Human beings do not have control of their fate

Impressionism

- Originally developed in France in the 1870’s

-Starts in the U.S. IN EARLY 1900’S

- Overall impression of a scene or object;

- Similar to paintings of Impressionistic

Technique

- Darkness and cold outside frame these events in the saloon: "He might have been in a deserted

village. We picture the world as thick with conquering and elate humanity, but here, with the

bugles of the tempest pealing, it was hard to imagine a peopled earth" (188).

- Realistic details: When the saloon door opens, the wind hurls some of the playing cards against the

wall.

Influenced by Crane’s Work

- Henry James- H.G. Wells- Joseph Conrad- Ernest Hemingway

PART 3

Issues and Themes

- Produced several classic works of literary naturalism - Movement that emerged in France in the middle of the 19th century and flourished in America between 1890 and 1910 in the works of Crane, Frank Norris, Jack London, and Theodore Dreiser

-Naturalism is closely allied to realism, which it resembles in its attention to detail and its opposition to idealized romance

- He is perhaps the greatest of the naturalists, however, precisely because his works transcend their genre

- While works such as The Red Badge of Courage and "The Open Boat" depict men struggling against a natural world that is both destructive and indifferent -Crane treated his subjects in a highly lyrical style.

Type of Literature Writing

- Henry James wrote realistic literature as opposed to the Romantic Era

- Joseph Conrad wrote from a nautical setting, depicting trials of the human spirit

- Ernest Hemingway wrote a form of modern literature

Realism vs. Impressionism

Realism- Clear and detailed

Impressionism- Gives the impression not the clear picture

Quotes

“It was not well to drive men into final corners; at those moments they could

all develop teeth and claws.”

“Sometimes, the most profound of awakenings come wrapped in the

quietest of moments”

Quick Facts

- Crane was war correspondent of the Hearst Newspaper during the War between Greece and

Turkey

- Spanish-American War in 1898 provided new employment for Crane

Literary Elements“The Veteran”

Simile- He aint nice as our’n

Metaphor- Sky was falling down

Irony- Fought in the war lives; dies saving some colts

Symbols- Young colts; True nature of a solider

Word Citedhttp://www.biography.com/people/stephen-crane-9260647

http://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/crane/faq.htmhttp://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=241

http://asburyradio.com/Cranehouse.htmhttp://www.poemhunter.com/stephen-crane-2/biography/

http://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/1898/crane.htmlhttp://www2.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/allam/18661913/lit/crane.htmhttp://www.enotes.com/topics/stephen-crane/critical-essays/crane-stephen

Robert W. Stallman, Stephen Crane: A Biography (1968)