“But I like it
Because it is bitter,
And Because it is my heart.”
– Stephen Crane
Stephen Crane’s was a Jersey boy and one of eight children to his Methodists parents who were both writers. He started writing at the age of four and was published by the age of 16. He published The Red Badge of Courage in 1895 without any war experience. He is considered America’s earliest Naturalists and wrote in the Realist tradition. Blah blah blah… Lets get to the good stuff shall we?
Stephen Crane? More Like Stephen Cray. This guy was the cross dressing best friend of Joseph Conrad who stuck up for prostitutes, had a serious relationship with a madam, and contracted tuberculosis in a life raft while stranded at sea only before dying at the age of 28 in a spa. Shall I divulge? …
Crane’s first novel Maggie, written at the age of 22 (age 22!…what did you do today?), was too real for publishers. It is about a really poor girl who becomes a prostitute and kills her self. Its incredibly dark and heavy themes were a slap in the face for people, who were used to cushy Romanticism, and was greatly scrutinized. Crane is notorious for writing in this fashion. He writes a short sketch called “Experiment in Misery” that is incredibly honest and real. How real was it? Well, Crane dresses up as a tramp and stays in a flop house to do research (d.e.d.i.c.a.t.i.o.n.). See- cross dressing (not that there is anything wrong with that).
Crane hung out with Joseph Conrad and even hosted Conrad, Henry James and H.G. Wells for Christmas in 1899. He had some sort of serious romatic relationship with the madam of the Hotel de Dream; Jacksonville Florida’s “most elegant sporting house” (that’s a brothel y’all). His relationship with Cara (Lady Stewart) Crane is a little hazy. She took his last name but they were never legally married. Crane also was a part of another scandal when he acted “as a witness for a suspected prostitute”. So, in good company this guy had a thing for ladies employed in the worlds oldest profession. Sounds like a fun guy.
Stephen and Cora Crane
Crane met Cora while in Florida waiting to board a ship headed to Cuba where he was sent on a journalist assignment in 1896. The boat he was traveling on was shipwrecked and Crane was stranded off the coast of Florida on a life raft until rescued. Crane’s The Open Boat was based on this experience. It is speculated that Crane barely survived this ordeal and his untimely contraction of tuberculosis is the consequence of his time on the shipwrecked dinghy. Stephen Crane died at the age of 28 from tuberculosis in Germany at a spa he took refuge at in order to nurse himself.
Fun random fact #1: he liked to write stuff in all caps.
Fun random fact #2: he was on the album cover of The Beatles album Sgt. Pepper’s.
Fun random parting thought: MUSTACHE CHAMPION!
