Children of Jonathan Townley Crane
Hemingway on Crane
Carrott in Red Badge
"In a Park Row Restaurant"
Origins of Whilomville

Crane's work in the public domain?

Hi there,
I am a composer in Perth, Australia, and would like to set one of Stephen Crane's poems (War Is Kind) to music to be part of a song cycle for public performance. Are his works still in copyright, is there a copyright holder, or are the works in the Public Domain?
Regards,
Simon.srholt77@hotmail.com

Simon Holt 11.13.05

Stephen Crane's published works are in the public domain. An edited text may, however, be copyright, and, it is in any event a conventional courtesy to request permission to reprint a text from the publisher, if this is feasible.

--Stanley Wertheim, 11/21/05

Crane's handwriting

I am looking for a copy of a page of Stephen Crane's manuscripts- taken from any document, I would like to see the words in Crane's cursive.
Can you direct me to a web site that might have this?
Thank you very much,
Duston Spear

10-25-05

You can see a small sample on our News and Announcements page, but I don't know of a site that has full pages of his manuscripts reproduced.

D. Campbell

10-25-05

Crane quoting Emerson in Demorest's

: In May of 1896, a letter from Crane was published in Demorest's Family Magazine under the title, "A Remarkable First Succeess."  In this letter Crane discusses his success with Red Badge and he ultimately goes on to Quote Emerson as saying, "There should be a long logic beneath the story, but it should be kept carefuly out of sight."  My problem is that I can not find where this Emerson quote originates . . .any ideas?
Jason Edward Murray jemurray@usd.edu

10-18-05

Crane misquotes from Emerson's "Intellect," but he preserves the essential meaning of the passage: "We want in every man a long logic:
we can not pardon the absence of it, but it must not be spoken. Logic is the procession or proportionate unfolding of the intuition, but its virtue is as silent method; the moment it would appear as propositions and have a separate value, it is worthless."

--Stanley Wertheim, 10/25/05

I'm interested in exploring the text of "Maggie" as a way to get my students (11th-12th grade) involved in linguistics. Crane's use of dialogue to convey a variety of meanings through the use of repetitive phrases fascinates me and seems very like the slang that teen-agers often use. I'd like to guide the class through a reading of "Maggie" that culminates in a data collection excercise in order to focus students upon the tremendous variety of languages that we all encounter everyday. I wonder if anyone knows of someone who has used the text of "Maggie" in this way and would like to discuss his results? Do you know of any materials that would assist me in designing a unit like this based upon an examination of "Maggie"?

Ed Noveshen moorewriting@hotmail.com

10-13-05

Here are two books that may be helpful:

Jones, Gavin. Strange Talk: The Politics of Dialect Literature in Gilded Age America. Berkeley, CA : U of California P, 1999.

Slotkin, Alan. The Language of Stephen Crane's Bowery Tales: Growing Mastery of Character Diction . New York: Garland Publishing Co., 1993.

D. Campbell, 10/25/05

Crane's Nonfiction Writings on Crime
Does anyone know of any non-fiction writings by Crane dealing with actual crimes?  If so, I'd appreciate hearing from you.
 
Sincerely, 
Harold Schechter hschech@earthlink.net

10/9/05

The link to the Stephen Crane "Open Boat" short story is broken. Where can it be found? Id like to read it. Thanks!

stephen balbach 9/29/05

Sorry--I will fix the link very soon. Since the site changed servers, there are some broken links, and they'll be fixed as soon as possible.

Thanks for letting me know about this one.

D. Campbell 9/29/05

Update 10/25/05: I just tested the link on the Short Stories page and found "The Blue Hotel" at our site: http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/crane/blue.htm

Is there another link that you tried and found broken? If so, please let me know. Thanks.

I'm doing a critical history on "The Red Badge of Courage" but am having trouble finding early criticism. The earliest date in 1939. Any ideas on where to proceed?

Ethan ethanz77@yahoo.com 9/29/05

I'm a professor teaching Maggie, and the bookstore substituted the Signet Classic edition (ed. Alfred Kazin, 1991) for the Bantam one I ordered. I'm finding substantial differences in the texts. The Bantam claims to reproduce the 1893 text, but there are no textual notes in the Signet. Is it possible that they used the revised 1896 edition? I looked up the edition in the Library of Congress, but could find no information. I can also find no ISBN for the Sgnet or information on their website. If there is a textual scholar there, can you help me?

One example of the differences is that the "micks" referred to in the 1893 1st chapter are called "mugs" in the Signet.

Thanks for your help!

Susan Marshall

smarshall@csustan.edu

9/29/05

I've recently studied current editions of Maggie, and in short, all the Signet editions I've seen use the expurgated 1896 edition. The most significant difference between the 1893 and 1896 editions is that in the 1896 version, the second to last paragraph in chapter 17 is cut. This eliminates the "huge fat man" that Maggie solicits, which in turn drastically limits the conclusions one can make about Maggie's death. The 1896 version also cleans up profanities and blasphemies intact in the 1893 version. Because of these changes, most scholars seem to prefer the 1893 version.

I can make two recommendations for current editions of the 1893 Maggie. If you want something cheap, consider Dover Thrift's The Open Boat and Other Stories, which includes the 1893 Maggie, "The Open Boat", "Bride Comes to Yellow Sky", and "The Blue Hotel", and costs $2. If you want a critical edition, consider Bedford/St. Martin's Cultural Edition (Ed. Kevin Hayes).

Of course, if your students already have the 1896 version, you could probably produce a good lesson by bringing in excerpts from 1893 and comparing the changes. For an good analysis of the two texts, find Joseph Katz's "The Maggie Nobody Knows" (In Modern Fiction Studies. 12.2 (Summer 1966. pp. 200-12). Katz's helped return the 1893 Maggie to the light of day.

Jeff Paschke-Johannes, pasch034@umn.edu 10/4/05

Photos of Crane

I am doing photo research for a US Department of State book of Stephen Crane's works. We are looking for a photograph for the cover.

Are there any photographs of Crane or Crane with someone else that are among the Society's collection?

I would appreciate a speedy reply. Could I have a phone number with the reply?

Many thanks,
Joann
Photo Researcher

As far as I know, the Stephen Crane Society doesn't maintain a collection of Crane photographs, although individuals within the Society may have their own collections. There are good research collections, however, at Columbia, Syracuse, and Virginia that have a lot of materials, including photographs:

I hope that other Crane Society members will provide further suggestions.

-D. Campbell, 9/20/05

I am translating red badge into french. i can't find a definition of gluttering (chapter 22). also should "correctness" (chapter 24) read "correctitude", which, according to the OED fits the context better?

richard myers richard_l_myers@hotmail.com

9/10/05

The printing of "gluttering" in Chapter 22 of The Red Badge is simply a misprint. Crane wrote "glittering." Perhaps "correctitude" would be more appropriate than "correctness" in Capter 24, but Crane was not familiar with the OED.

--Stanley Wertheim, 9/16/05

Crane and "Hell Bent"

I am researching the term "hell bent". I've found out the term first appeared in Stephen Crane's 1899 collection of short stories. I know what the term means but need to know why the two words together mean "to be determined". 

thank you, 
Charles Kubly charleskubly@msn.com
8/25/05

Crane and Asbury Park

I honestly don't know much about him, but I'm currently reading a new book on the history of Asbury Park, NJ - Apparently Stephen Crane lived there and wrote for the local paper - yet I see no reference to his years there anywhere on this site or in most of the other official bios.
Bill Normyle 6/28/05

You can find some information about Crane's house in Asbury Park at http://www.stephencranehouse.org. Linda Davis's Badge of Courage and The Crane Log have information on Crane in Asbury Park, and so does Donald Vanouse's online "Stephen Crane"at the Literary Encyclopedia. Also see the Queries 2003 page.

We don't have an official Crane bio at this site yet--sorry.

--D. Campbell

The Real Whilomville?

I don't know if you answer questions like this, but I was wondering if the town of Whilomville is based on any particular city or region.

Thanks,

rmr Robert Repinorobert_repino@emerson.edu 6/23/05

I have been to the Crane house in Port Jervis, NY.  It is now a law office.  The secretary let me in and showed me the downstairs.  In the backyard is a parking lot where Crane wrote most of Red Badge.  It is a stones throw from the park where he would interview Civil War Veterans that inspired his greatest work.  The park is still there and has not changed too much since Crane's lifetime.

According to this secretary, Crane's brother was a lawyer, owned the home and allowed his wayward author sibling to stay there between his travels.
Jim Franzetti jim122463@aol.com
8/30/05

*******

The imaginary town of Whilomville is modeled on Port Jervis in Orange County, New York, where Crane lived from the ages of six to eleven. The name conveys a suggestion of timelesness or "once upon a time," but it may have a more specific family connotation since Crane's maternal grandfather, the Reverend George Peck, and his brothers organized a fife and drum corps known as the Whilom Drum Corps. Not only the Whiomville Stories and "The Monster" but also The Red Badge of Courage was directly influenced by Crane's childhood in Port Jervis. Crane listened to the stories of veterans gathered near the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Orange Square, only a few steps from his home, and the movements of the fictional 304th New York in the war novel correspond roughly to those of the 124th New York State Volunteer Regiment, known as the Orange Blossoms, which had its first experience of combat at Chancellorsville.

--Stanley Wertheim, 6/28/05

***********

About the origins of Whilomville:

This is a fictional town based on the small towns in New York and New Jersey where Crane spent his childhood, especially Port Jervis. It s an agglutination: «whilom» means old. (Something like the «town of old days».) It s the setting of a lot of Crane short stories and the novella «The Monster».

--David Furtado
6/28/05

"In a Park Row Restaurant"

I have a student who has read "In a Park Row Restaurant" and is conducting research about the story.  I'm having a terrible time locating sources to steer him to.  Could you direct me to some critical sources that at least mention this story.

B. 6/3/05

"In a Park Row Restaurant" is a burlesque sketch that appeared in the New York Press on 28 October 1894, two weeks after its predecessor, "Coney Island's Fading Days." Written before Crane's personal experience in the West, the sketch compares the turmoil of the restaurant to the stereotype of the Wild West prevalent in the Eastern mind. While there are no extended studies of "In a Park Row Restaurant," the sketch is noted in many studies of Crane's fiction such a Milne Holton's Cylinder of Vision: The Fiction and Journalistic Writings of Stephen Crane (1972); Chester Wolford, Stephen Crane: A Study of the Short Fiction (1989); and Stanley Wertheim, A Stephen Crane Encyclopedia (1997).

Stanley Wertheim, 6/7/05

Crane's Grave barely marked

This last weekend I visited Crane's grave in Evergreen Cemetery, Hillside NJ. It is marked only by a small flat stone, with the dash between two dates and the motto "author". I was wondering if anyone would be interested in raising a worthier monument to the man? Perhaps one with the texts of some of his poetry and prose inscribed on it?

I live near Hillside, and would be willing to do the organizing. I would presently be grateful for any advice on how to proceed.

Jacob Rabinowitz

Mercure!@verizon.net

Editions of Crane's works

What is the best standard edition of Crane's works, the most up-to date and comprehensive one?

Also, what would be the best choice for someone who wanted the complete poetry and all of the major prose, but whose needs were those of a non-specialist?

Jacob Rabinowitz mercure1@verizon.net 3/27/05

There is no single edition of Crane's works that would meet the criteria of "standard," "up-to-date" and comprehensive. The most comprehensive edition is  The Works of Stephen Crane, ed. Fredson Bowers. 10 vols. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1969-1976. However, the editorial practices employed by Bowers have precipitated a great deal of controversy, and the texts of several important prose works, notably Maggie and The Red Badge of Courage, have generally been rejected by scholars. This edition includes the complete poetry, and the texts of the poems are more reliable. The most practical edition, incorporating Crane's major prose and poetry is Stephen Crane: Prose and Poetry, ed. J. C. Levenson. New York: Library of America, 1984. Paperback, 1996.

--Stanley Wertheim, 3/28/05

"The Bicycle Speedway"

On NPR within the past two months I heard a reference to a Stephen Crane short story called, "The Bicycle Speedway". I have been unable to either identify this work or locate a copy of it. I would welcome any help that is offered.
Gayle Parker gayle@theweldongroup.com

3/4/05

"New York’s Bicycle Speedway" is not a story but a tongue-in-cheek feature article about the transformation of New York’s Western Boulevard, slanting from Columbus Circle to Riverside Drive, into a bicycle path that was syndicated in newspapers by McClure on 5 July 1896. The most accessible reprinting is in Maggie, A Girl of the Streets and Other New York Writings. Edited by Luc Sante. New York: The Modern Library, 2001.

--Stanley Wertheim, 3/5/05

I'm looking for translations of Crane's "The Red Badge of Courage". The translation can be into any language, although major European languages are preferred and Portuguese would be ideal.
If possible it'd also help me a lot if the texts were in electronic format but, if that's not possible, infomation about published versions would also be useful.
I've searched for a list of the names of translations of this work on the internet but haven't been able to find anything so any help would be much appreciated!

Mark Stevenson 3/2/05

Two prominent Crane scholars are at present working on a bibliographical article annotating translations of his works with, as it happens, special attention to translations into Portuguese. At present, however, the best source for translations of The Red Badge of Courage would be the National Union Catalogue and the Catalogue of the British Library.

--Stanley Wertheim, 3/9/05

Carrott in Red Badge

Does anyone know the background of the derogatory refence to Carrott at the beginning of Chapter 4 in the Red Badge of Courage?

Ann L. Carrott 2/18/05

At the beginning of Chapter 4 of The Red Badge of Courage, a soldier implies that a company commander named Carrott is a shirker who has feigned illness to avoid combat. Carrott is certainly an unusual name, but he seems to be a fictional character, like other Union officers named in the novel. Research has not disclosed real-life counterparts for Carrott; the lieutenant of Henry Fleming's company, who is named Hasbrouck; MacChesnay, the Colonel of the regiment; other junior officers such as Hannis and Tompkins; or general officers such as Perry, Taylor, Whiterside, and Henderson. 

--Stanley Wertheim, 3/9/05

Children of Jonathan Townley Crane, Jr.?

QUESTION: My Grt Granny Martha Bell Crane-Slutz of Palmrya Missouri-S.E. Iowa told me in the very early 1960s--when she was 84 yrs of age--that the famous author Stephen Crane was her Uncle. Her father's mname was Bryant Crane. He married a Catherine Paugh in the 1860s at palmrya MO. Does anyone there have any info on this? I have a faded copy of their marriage cert. --Edmund Bryant abd Catherine. Can anyone tell me if Jon Townley Crane-the father had a son by the name of Edmund Bryant Crane? Thanks---

Del Moni 2/10/05

Edmund Bryan Crane (1857-1922) was the brother with whom Stephen had the closest relationship, and his residences at Lake View, New Jersey, and Hartwood, New York, were as near to what can be called homes that Crane had in the United States. After the death of Jonathan Townley Crane, Stephen lived for a time with Bryan, then a teacher in Sussex County, New Jersey. When their mother died, Edmund became Stephen's guardian. Much of The Red Badge of Courage was written in Edmund's house at Lake View, and the name of Edmund's wife, Mary L. Fleming, was probably the source for the surname of the protagonist of the novel. The dating and the names on the copy of the wedding certificate that you have indicate that this Edmund Bryant Crane was not Stephen Crane's brother.

--Stanley Wertheim, 2/12/05

There is no discernible internal evidence in Crane's works that he was familiar with the fiction or poetry of Herman Melville, and it is extremely unlikely that he would have been aware of Melville, other than as an early writer of sea stories for boys. When Melville died in 1891, his once considerable popularity had slipped into complete obscurity. It was not until the 1920s that Melville achieved his reputation as a major American author.

--Stanley Wertheim, 2/11/05

************

about the videos on Crane: there's a video about Crane and The Red Badge of Courage: , «Great Books - The Red Badge of Courage», Roundabout Productions Inc. for TLC, 1999, Discovery Communications, Inc.

the Hemingway quote also exists: Hemingway mentions Crane several times in Green Hills of Africa and A Moveable Feast. The quote mentioned is from By-Line: Ernest Hemingway, pp. 217-219, when he mentions several books and writers that are essential reading for a young novelist; among these, «The Open Boat» and «The Blue Hotel» by Stephen Crane.

best regards,
David Furtado 3/2/05