Although dying at the young age of twenty eight, Stephen Crane signed international fame to himself after writing his second novel, The Red Badge of Courage. This Civil War tale took the view of the typical American soldier, even though at this time Crane had no war experience. Many could not believe how someone who was not even involved in the war could paint such a vivid picture.
Crane was born to a Methodist minister on November 1st 1871, being the last of fourteen children. His father, Dr. Jonathan Townley Crane, died when Crane was just nine, while his mother was pronounced dead only a short time later.
This was the time when Crane moved to New York to try out his writing talent as a journalist. Supposedly he never cared much for schooling, even university, where he spent most of his short time there on the baseball field. However, not before long, Crane was writing for the New York Tribune.
During his short spell at Syracuse University in 1891, Crane only seemed to succeed in one subject – English Literature. Despite taking six courses, this was the only subject that Crane was to pass, achieving a comfortable A Grade.
This showed how much talent Crane had. For somebody who didn’t care much about schooling, and wasn’t even that clever at everyday subjects, he somehow managed to achieve an incredible A.
Crane’s spell with the New York Tribune was a short, but experienced time for the young journalist. The year after taking up the position of writing for the newspaper, Crane was to lose it for writing a sarcastic account of the parade by the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. This was just the learning curve for Crane though, who made journalism one of his main means for financial support prior to making a name for himself as a successful author.
Just two days before Christmas of 1891, Crane released his first novel - Maggie: A Girl of the Streets. The book was a vivid story of a pretty, young girl living in New York, being the subject of loneliness and poverty. Eventually the girl was forced into prostitution after being rejected by everybody she thought she trusted. The detail in the novel was that intense, that it was decided to privately print the book at first. This soon changed though, when then novel caught the attention of Hamlin Garland and William Dean Howells.
With this being Crane’s first novel, the young author was struggling to find some money to publish it. Thankfully for Crane, one of his faithful brothers managed to lend him the correct amount needed. At this time, Crane was still living in a cash struck life in New York.
In 1883 Crane’s second, and most popular novel was written. The Red Badge of Courage was published in America in 1885, and soon became a bestseller. It didn’t pick up quite as much glory in England, although it was positively attracted. This was the novel where Crane wrote in the view of an American solider, fighting in the American Civil War. Also in 1985 came Stephen Crane’s first of two collections of free verse - The Black Riders.
Crane also wrote similar texts, including “Three little birds in a row”, “In the desert”, “Yes, I have a thousand tongues”, “Once there came a man” and “God fashioned the ship of the world carefully”.
In November 1896, Crane met Cora Taylor. Taylor would become Crane’s companion for the rest of his life, even though she would supposedly never get married to him. No one knows for sure, but there is no evidence that the two ever did get married.
Crane and his partner settled in England in 1897, where Crane would carry on his line of work as a journalist and literary artist. During this time, Crane covered two wars as a journalist, and wrote some of his finest work, including “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky, “The Monster,” and “The Blue Hotel”. Although these short stories were some of Crane’s greatest work, they were to be his last pieces that were to be any good.
On June 5th 1900 Crane died as a result of tuberculosis. The author had been suffering with the disease for some years, and with the pressure of his work combined with it, he died at the very young age of twenty eight. His companion, Cora Crane, brought him to a health spa where he was to spend his final days alive.
Even though Stephen Crane was a successful author, he was always a very poor man. Some say the reason of his early death was because of his work load, which was only high because of his financial situation.
Nevertheless, Steven Crane brought a whole new idea to the context of writing. He wrote what he thought, with immense detail. That’s what made him so successful, describing everything in a way that painted an exact picture. Many authors today are currently doing it, and doing it well, like Stephen Crane obviously did.
