About the Author
Stephen Crane was born in 1871, in New Jersey. He was the last of fourteen children of a Methodist preacher and his wife. He came from a family of writers, in that his parents and two of his brothers were writers. Reverend and Mrs. Crane both wrote many religious articles while one of his brothers owned a news agency that sent information to the New York Times. It was here that Stephen Crane got his start in journalism.
After writing and publishing the work that launched him into fame, The Red Badge of Courage, he continued to switch between fiction and news journalism. He moved around New Jersey and New York for a while, where he gathered ideas for some of his stories. He attended Hudson River Institute and Claverack College. While he was there, he started dabbling in freelance journalism. He spent less than two years in college before moving to New York in 1892 to write, both his novels and for the newspapers. Due to his freelance tendencies, he often saw and wrote about the poor and lower classes that he saw around the city. His writing style was rather unique in that he wrote with a very ironic flourish but retained civility and politeness towards his interviewees. Crane continued his travels across America, including into the West, which was the inspiration for some of his short stories like “The Blue Hotel.”
Crane was being sent to cover the Spanish-American War in 1896 when the events of “The Open Boat” occurred. It was also on this trip, in Jacksonville, Florida, that Crane met Cora Taylor, and became close but never married her. The boat on which he was sailing, The Commodore, started to sink within twenty-four hours of its departure from Jacksonville. Crane along with three other men spent thirty some hours on a small lifeboat until they washed up on the shores of Daytona. He soon wrote two versions of his adventure, one for the New York Press called “Stephen Crane’s Own Story,” and one later on as the short story, “The Open Boat,” for Scribner’s in 1897. Soon after, he returned to New York, with Cora in tow, and then continued travelling before settling in England.
By the time he died in 1900, at the age of twenty-eight, Crane had also covered the Greco-Turkish War in 1897, written many short stories, including “The Open Boat” and “The Blue Hotel,” composed a few novels, including The Red Badge of Courage, and penned a plethora of poetry. His career as a writer only lasted eight years, but his works are still popular today. Today there is a museum devoted to his works in Crane’s childhood home in Ashbury Park in New York State.
Here are some links that might tickle your fancy:
http://ponceinlet.org/stephen-crane
http://www.thestephencranehouse.org/main.html
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/stephen-crane
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americannovel/timeline/crane.html
http://wps.ablongman.com/long_kennedy_lfpd_9/0,9130,1489982-,00.html
After writing and publishing the work that launched him into fame, The Red Badge of Courage, he continued to switch between fiction and news journalism. He moved around New Jersey and New York for a while, where he gathered ideas for some of his stories. He attended Hudson River Institute and Claverack College. While he was there, he started dabbling in freelance journalism. He spent less than two years in college before moving to New York in 1892 to write, both his novels and for the newspapers. Due to his freelance tendencies, he often saw and wrote about the poor and lower classes that he saw around the city. His writing style was rather unique in that he wrote with a very ironic flourish but retained civility and politeness towards his interviewees. Crane continued his travels across America, including into the West, which was the inspiration for some of his short stories like “The Blue Hotel.”
Crane was being sent to cover the Spanish-American War in 1896 when the events of “The Open Boat” occurred. It was also on this trip, in Jacksonville, Florida, that Crane met Cora Taylor, and became close but never married her. The boat on which he was sailing, The Commodore, started to sink within twenty-four hours of its departure from Jacksonville. Crane along with three other men spent thirty some hours on a small lifeboat until they washed up on the shores of Daytona. He soon wrote two versions of his adventure, one for the New York Press called “Stephen Crane’s Own Story,” and one later on as the short story, “The Open Boat,” for Scribner’s in 1897. Soon after, he returned to New York, with Cora in tow, and then continued travelling before settling in England.
By the time he died in 1900, at the age of twenty-eight, Crane had also covered the Greco-Turkish War in 1897, written many short stories, including “The Open Boat” and “The Blue Hotel,” composed a few novels, including The Red Badge of Courage, and penned a plethora of poetry. His career as a writer only lasted eight years, but his works are still popular today. Today there is a museum devoted to his works in Crane’s childhood home in Ashbury Park in New York State.
Here are some links that might tickle your fancy:
http://ponceinlet.org/stephen-crane
http://www.thestephencranehouse.org/main.html
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/stephen-crane
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americannovel/timeline/crane.html
http://wps.ablongman.com/long_kennedy_lfpd_9/0,9130,1489982-,00.html
The Stephen Crane Society: http://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/crane/index.html