Showing results by author "Stephen Crane" in All Categories

"An Ominous Baby", which is quite short, is an unexpected Stephen Crane jewel. Crane is best known for three short stories, "The Open Boat", thought by many to be the best short story ever written, "The Blue Hotel", and "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky". "An Ominous Baby" is perhaps the most unusual of the other ten Crane stories Simply recorded. It deserves to be right up there with the top three.

"The Open Boat" is considered Stephen Crane's finest work and one of the great short stories of all time. The story begins with four men in an open boat, subject to the vagaries of the sea after their ship went down. The Captain, though injured, retains control over the boat and its occupants by force of habit and uncanny skills. In this trial, he proves his worth, putting his men first, guiding them at every step of the way.

Stephen wrote astonishingly realistic stories of men under the stress of battle, the most famous being The Read Badge of Courage. He also wrote a number of very insightful stories with the same theme. This is considered one of his best.

Stephen Crane's fascinating story "The Blue Hotel" is seen by many as a study of fear. Crane used the stereotypical 1890's American West as his setting, and the story uses a card game to show how fear feeds upon itself. There are both inner fears and fears existing in reality, and the ways that they interact with each other make for a fascinating tale.

This short story by Stephen Crane and narrated by Glenn Hascall portrays a veteran of the Civil War accompanied by his grandson in a grocery store where the veteran admits that yes he was frightened when in battle. The grandson is disappointed that his grandfather would admit he was frightened, but of course the grandson could not - nor can anyone who has not witnessed it - fully appreciate the horror of that field. But later on the grandfather demonstrates that although he feels fear he is a hero.

As a well-paid war correspondent, Stephen Crane was shipwrecked en route to Cuba in early 1897. He and a small party of passengers spent 30 hours adrift off the coast of Florida, an experience that Crane would later transform into this, his most famous short story, in 1898.

A Dark Brown Dog is a classic, an endearing story about a boy, his dog, and their unconditional love for one another.

The Red Badge of Courage was Stephen Crane's best known novel. It was one of his two great ones, the other being the underrated Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, which was also a ground-breaking work, taking up the subject of women's plights in industrial society as Red Badge takes up men's plight in wartime.

"A Dark Brown Dog" is an unexpected Stephen Crane jewel. Crane is best known for three short stories, "The Open Boat", thought by many to be the best short story ever written; "The Blue Hotel"; and "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky". "A Dark Brown Dog" is the first cousin of Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, in being set in the rough, tough world of the New York Bowery of the late 19th century.

A young American civil war recruit overcomes initial fears and shame to become a hero on the battlefield.

While the title "His New Mittens" doesn't sound like an inspired title, acclaimed author Stephen Crane wrote this classic to help everyone understand - or identify - with the brain of boyhood. The early experiences of anger, pain, shame, and love most of us experienced as children, and escorted us into puberty, that we look back upon as adults.

An army lieutenant concentrates on rationing out his company's supply of coffee, meticulously dividing the brown squares before him, when a shot rings out. The enlisted men, startled by the noise, suddenly see blood saturating their lieutenant's sleeve.

The selections in this collection include classic short stories "Bartelby the Scrivener" by Herman Melville, "The Truth About Pyecraft" by H. G. Wells, "The Angel Child" by Stephen Crane, "A Journey" by Edith Wharton, "Phyllis and Rosamond" by Vriginia Woolf, and "The Flight of Betsey Lane" by Sarah Orne Jewett.

Henry Fleming had no idea how horrible war really was. Attacks come from all sides, bullets fly, bombs crash. Men everywhere are wounded, bleeding, and dying. Now, Henry's fighting for his life and he's scared.He must make a decision, perhaps the most difficult decision he will ever make in his life: save himself, run from the enemy and desert his friends, or fight, be brave, and risk his life. If he stays to fight, he may die with his regiment. If he runs, he'll have to live with knowing he was a coward. Can Henry find the strength within himself to earn his red badge of courage?

Durch einen Schneesturm wird "Das blaue Hotel" in Nebraska von der Außenwelt abgeschnitten. Der Wirt, sein Sohn und drei weitere anwesende Gäste sind fortan auf sich allein gestellt und müssen sich, so weit es geht, arrangieren. Doch das ist leichter gesagt als getan. Denn in dem Hotel prallen unterschiedliche Religionen und Gesellschaftsschichten aufeinander, sodass es immer wieder zu Konflikten kommt. Vor allem der schwedische Gast aus New York macht den anderen mit seiner absurd-paranoiden Art das Leben schwer.

Henry Fleming leaves his widowed mother behind and marches off to join a war that is tearing his country apart. His regiment has yet to be tested in the fire of battle. Together the soldiers wait while distant guns rumble and the lights of enemy campfires flicker on the hills beyond a darkened river. The young man recalls his childhood dreams of valiant combat. Will he pass the test and return home to tell others of his triumphs on the battlefield? Or will he flee at the first sign of real danger?

The horror of war repeats itself from one generation to the next. That’s why modern listeners will empathize with the struggle of the Civil War soldiers depicted in this gritty short story by Stephen Crane, The Upturned Face. As they scramble to give their comrade a proper burial while the war rages on around them, their feelings of confusion and inadequacy could not be clearer. The story paints a stark and enduring contrast between war’s tender sadness and its relentless brutality.

"A Desertion" is a short story published in 1900 about a young woman who is suspected by others in the neighborhood of indiscretion that might trouble her father.

Originally published pseudonymously in 1893, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets follows the tragic tale of Maggie and her life in the harsh streets and tenements of the New York City Bowery district. Initially rejected by publishers for being viewed as too brutal and accurate in its descriptions of poverty and female sexuality, Stephen Crane published the work at his own expense. In Maggie's struggle to find love, acceptance, and economic security, Crane creates a portrait which mirrors the struggle of all the women of America at the end of the 19th century.

The Open Boat and Other Stories features four prized selections by Stephen Crane, recognized by modern critics as one of the most innovative writers of his generation. "The Open Boat" is based on a harrowing incident in the author's life: the 1897 sinking of a ship on which he was a passenger; "The Blue Hotel" and "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky" reflect Crane's early travels in Mexico and the American Southwest; and the novella Maggie: A Girl of the Streets is a galvanizing portrait of life in the slums of New York City.