Great Short Works of Stephen Crane (Perennial Classics) (Paperback)

by Stephen Crane (Author) "THE cold passed reluctantly from the earth, and the retiring fogs revealed an army stretched out on the hills, resting..." (more)
Key Phrases: Henry Johnson, Yellow Sky, Rum Alley (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The collected short work of an American master, including The Red Badge of Courage and Maggie: A Girl of the Streets.

Stephen Crane died at the age of 28 in Germany. In his short life, he produced stories that are among the most enduring in the history of American ficiton. The Red Badge of Courage manages to capture both the realistic grit and the grand hallucinations of soldiers at war. Maggie: A Girl on the Streets reflects the range of Crane's ability to invest the most tragic and ordinary lives with great insight.

James Colvert writes in the introduction to this volume: "Here we find once again the major elements of Crane's art: the egotism of the hero, the indifference of nature, the irony of the narrator ... Crane is concerned with the moral responsibility of the individual ... (and) moral capability depends upon the ability to see through the illusions wrought by pride and conceit—the ability to see ourselves clearly and truly."

Great Short Works of Stephen Crane Includes : The Red Badge of Courage; Maggie: A Girl of the Streets; The Monster. Stories: An Experiment in Misery; A Mystery of Heroism; An Episode of War; The Upturned Face; The Open Boat; The Pace of Youth; The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky; The Blue Hotel.

From the Publisher
The stories and novels representing Stephen Crane's art at its finest. Includes The Red Badge of Courage, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, The Monster, The Blue Hotel, and other short stories. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial Modern Classics (July 6, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060726482
• ISBN-13: 978-0060726485
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #593,008 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stephen Crane as Impressionist, January 9, 2002

By	Douglas LaRose (Santa Barbara, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Great Short Works of Stephen Crane (Perennial Classic) (Paperback)

"The battle flag in the distance jerked about madly. It seemed to be struggling to free itself from an agony. The billowing smoke was filled with horizontal flashes." (Crane, TRBOC).

If you were to mix Monet with the Civil War you would have "The Red Badge of Courage," penned by one of America's finest writers, Stephen Crane. His sense of hues and the dripping colors of the sky come together to paint some of the most beautiful literature humanly possible.

Stephen Crane is, above all, an Impressionist. His writing is strongly suggestive of the culmination of myriad viewpoints and perspectives. Scenes are not depicted from a distance, but rather from isolated instances on the battlefield. Esoteric symbols are utilized to bombard the reader with a certain cosmopolitan consciousness.

"The Red Badge of Courage," however, is not my favorite of Crane's works, but "The Open Boat." This short story is the monument to Crane's genius, the triumph of his language and arbitrary mode of experience, it is like viewing a story from many assorted "first person(s)."

Words could not explain my love of "The Open Boat."

Read Crane, love Crane, regardless of your High School preconceptions.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Compilation!, May 4, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Great Short Works of Stephen Crane (Perennial Classic) (Paperback)

I found this book to be excellently put together. It made reading the individual works much easier and less expensive than buying them individualy. The entire book was wonderful. Stephen Crane has a magical touch for revealing emotion and character through his words. He tells the whole truth and doesn't try to cover up the bad parts of life.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Forgotten Crane, May 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Great Short Works of Stephen Crane (Perennial Classic) (Paperback)

This book is an excellent introduction to the writing of Stephen Crane, a largely forgotten writer at the beginning of our new century. Most kids are forced to read the Red Badge of Courage at some point, but very few readers make it to some of his excellent short stories, especially "The Open Boat" and "The Blue Hotel". Read, enjoy, and please pay close attention to the existentialist absurdity found so often in Crane's work. The modernist tone of his writing, along with his realism, was well ahead of his time.