Author Details
Author Details
Crane, Stephen
"Stephen Crane was born on November 1st, 1871, the son of a Methodist minister and the youngest of fourteen children. He was born in Newark, New Jersey, and throughout his childhood he moved to various parts of the state. With fourteen children, his family was in need of more income, and when his father died when Crane was young, they were in even more in need.
As a child Stephen Crane dreamed of being a solider. He loved all things having to do with war and violence, and when he became older he went to a military academy. At that same time his interest in writing had increased and he began writing as a reporter for one of his older brother's news agency. He especially liked writing about war, and wished he could experience it firsthand.
Crane didn't care for anything academic, so when he went to college he ended up doing more socializing than he did studying. He also wanted to be a professional baseball player, and spent a lot of time playing. As a result of that he only spent one term at Lafayette College, and one term at Syracuse University.
After his failure at trying to be a student, Crane moved to New York and got his first full-time job there. He was a reporter for a New York newspaper, but lost his job after writing a harsh and inappropriate article that many people didn't agree with. After he was fired he started freelance writing and lived off of that for a while.
His first real big ""hit"" was in 1893 when he wrote ""Maggie: A Girl of the Streets"". This was the first naturalistic American novel, and he received both positive and negative criticism due to its risqu‚ content. Two years later in 1895, Crane was hailed an original genius after ""The Red Badge of Courage"" was published. These two novels brought him fame and admiration from fellow writers. He also wrote poetry, his most famous being about his favorite subject: war. This poem is entitled ""War Is Kind"".
After his big success, he became a traveling correspondent where he went to different countries, sometimes during wars, and reported. One time he became shipwrecked off the coast of Florida and had to spend a day and a night in a tiny dinghy. This experience inspired him to write his famous short novel called ""The Open Boat"": a gripping, intense, yet thoughtful story of four men trapped out at sea on a tiny ship.
After his correspondent days, he settled in England, and because of all the stress, physically and mentally, of his life, he became ill with tuberculosis. On June 5th, 1900, months short of his 29th birthday, Stephen Crane died in Germany from tuberculosis.
Stephen Crane will be remembered for his breakthrough novels and poetry. He was one of the first naturalistic American novelist, and opened up literature to a new kind of writing. Some of his other works include: ""The Blue Hotel"", ""An Episode of War"", ""The Upturned Face"", and ""The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky"".
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