Customer Reviews

A Stephen Crane Encyclopedia

5 star:		(6)
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1 star:		(6)

 

 

The only comprehensive guide to Stephen Crane's life and works in print. Entries are informative and succinct, and the critical commentary is incisive, well-written, and astute, without pedantry or jargon.

This remarkable guide to Crane's life and works provides excellent summaries and critical insights into the fiction and poetry of an author who should be better known for literary masterpieces other than The Red Badge of Courage. Every entry is clearly written and informative.

Many of the reviews of A Stephen Crane Encyclopedia on this site seem to be personal attacks, as the author suggests. One review claims that the author's opinions are in "left field," and another insists that, on the contrary, he simply summarizes the work of others. Wertheim is a leading Stephen Crane scholar, and to a great extent his opinions ARE the field. On the other hand, author encyclopedias do attempt to synthesize prevailing critical stances, and this encyclopedia does this admirably. it is succinct, well-written, and authoritative. A must for serious students of Stephen Crane.

The book is constantly useful and I think exactly what Crane scholars need. It is a balanced and inclusive source that admits much about Crane is shadowy and doesn't have an agenda for any one particular 'take' on the man.

Some of the reviews on this site are really loony! They seem to be written by one person, over and over again. A Stephen Crane Encyclopedia is the most accurate, clearly written, and informative reference guides on Crane one could buy. It is also probably the very best of the encyclopedias of American authors.

This is a WAY over-priced book that makes Crane a really boring person, which I doubt he was. If you really need to read this book do NOT buy it. Get it from the library and drink coffee. I found numerous errors in this book because the author disregards all the other biographies about Crane and makes up his own material.

This is an excellent resource--concise, informative, and authoritative. Those who complain about its lack of originality have totally missed the point: it's an encyclopedia, and it is supposed to bring together the interpretations of many critics and to supply information about Crane's works and his life so that the reader can then go and do further research.

This book offers very little new material on one of my favorite authors. It is actually more expensive than several other better Crane books available from Amazon ALL PUT TOGETHER. Not money well spent. Actually, the positive reviews written for this book are both from the author!

I waited the 4 weeks it took to get this book and I cannot express how poorly written it is. There are many good books on Crane, but this one is defintely to be avoided. The author is supposed to be a Crane expert but he cannot explain anything clearly. In fact, he seems angry about having to write this book for a living. Avoid this one.

I have studied Crane for many years and this book (which is very costly) makes some serious errors. While the style is amazingly boring, the layout of the book is conceptually good. This author, however, does not seem to be in touch with other Crane scholars and his notions seem out in left field. Of course, to think that an exciting author like Stephen Crane could be dissected in an "encyclopedia" format is not only preposterous, but downright disrespectful.