The Portable Stephen Crane"A man is born into the world with his own pair of eyes, and he is not responsible for his vision--he is merely responsible for his quality of personal honesty." In the course of his tragically abbreviated career, Stephen Crane (1871-1900) saw things that his contemporaries preferred to overlook--the low life of New York's Irish slums; the tedium, brutality, and chaos that were the true conditions of the Civil War; the ambiguous contract that binds a terrified man to his killer and the damned to their human judges. He communicated what he saw with the same laconic factuality that characterized his journalism and, in the process, laid the foundations for the unblinking realism of Hemingway and Dos Passos. The Portable Stephen Crane allows us to appreciate the full scope and power of this writer's vision. It contains three complete novels--Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, George's Mother, and Crane's masterpiece, The Red Badge of Courage; nineteen short stories and sketches, including "The Blue Hotel" and "The Open Boat," a barely fictionalized account of his own escape from shipwreck while covering the Cuban revolt against Spain; the previously unpublished essay "Above All Things"; letters and poems, plus a critical essay and notes by the noted Crane scholar Joseph Katz. |
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ain't appeared asked battle began blue boat body called captain child close coming continued corner course Crane cried crowd damn dark dead don't door edition expression eyes face feel feet felt fight Finally fire followed forward front girl glance hand head heard hell Henry Jimmie Kelcey kind knew later laughed light looked Maggie mind moment mother moved never night once passed Pete Presently reads regiment replied roar Scully seemed seen shoulder side silence slowly smoke soldier sound stand stood street suddenly sure Swede tell thing thought took Trescott turned voice wait walked watched waves wind window woman wonder young youth