Stephen Crane's Literary Family: A Garland of Writings

by Thomas A. Gullason

Overview

Stephen Crane was a prodigious American author whose bohemian ways seemed to contradict his conscientious upbringing. Drawing on little-known and unpublished documents by Crane's father, mother, and sister, and preeminent scholar Thomas A. Gullason shows how their vitality and versatility galvanized Crane's imagination, spurred his literary career, and affected his lifestyle. The Cranes emerge as a spirited and serious lot who were passionately concerned with social and cultural issues of the day. Newly discovered papers-from reflections on the Civil War to a funeral oration for Lincoln-paint Crane's pastor father as a man of sardonic wit whose obsession with alcohol would be mirrored in his son's work. Crane's mother is revealed to have had an eye for politics and an ear for dialogue that would vastly inform Crane's masterpiece, The Red Badge of Courage. His sister Agnes rounds out the portrait with recently recovered stories and poems. Replete with rare works and keen insights, this edition is a crucial reference for students of nineteenth century American literature and devotees of Stephen Crane.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780815629016
Publisher:	Syracuse University Press
Publication date:	03/01/2002
Edition description:	1 ED
Pages:	278
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 9.00(d)

About the Author

Thomas A. Gullason is a professor emeritus of English at the University of Rhode Island and editor of The Complete Short Stories of Stephen Crane, The Complete Novels of Stephen Crane, The Norton Critical Edition of "Maggie: A Girl of the Streets," and Stephen Crane's Career: Perspectives and Evaluations .

Table of Contents

	Illustrations	xi
	Preface	xiii
	Acknowledgments	xix
	Stephen Crane and His Family: A Modern Portrait	1
Part 1	Jonathan Townley Crane
	Father and Son: A Dual Reading	23
	Youthful Contributions to The Nassau Monthly
	The Fiction of Our Popular Magazines	29
	English Strictures on American Slavery	33
	A Speculation Concerning Popular Happiness	37
	The Aborigines of Great Britain	41
	The Battle of Waterloo: A Ballad (poem)	46
	From the Reverend Crane's Career
	The Lawyer and His Family: A Temperance Story for Youth (fiction) (selections)	56
	A Talk about Talk, or The Art of Talking	70
	The Mystified Quaker: Revision of Frank Olive's "Words and Their Uses"	87
	Party Politics	88
	A Day in Camp Convalescent	105
	Sermon: A Funeral Service Held in Memory of President Lincoln	111
	Obedience	120
	Singing in the Sunday School	121
	What Shall We Teach?	123
	Keep the Children Right	124
	The Crying Baby	126
	Justice to Children	128
	The Use of the Fists	130
	"Thou"	131
	Christ and the Painters	133
	Silent Power	135
	The Jolly Frog (poem)	137
Part 2	Mary Helen Peck Crane
	Mother and Son: A Dual Reading	141
	From Mrs. Crane's Career
	How to Conduct a Weekly Meeting of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union	145
	Report of "Press Work"	150
	Press Work (1887)	151
	Press Work (1890)	154
	Press Work (1891)	156
	A Trite Application	157
	To the Women of New Jersey	158
	Jerusha Ann Stubbs to Cousin Abigail Jane	160
	Jerusha Ann's Third Letter	165
	Hezekia Quidam to Jerusha Ann	168
	Thanksgiving or Christmas. Which?	169
	How Jonathan Saved the Ash Barrel	176
Part 3	Agnes Elizabeth Crane
	Sister and Brother: A Dual Reading	181
	From Agnes Crane's Career
	Land Ahead	186
	Love of the Beautiful	186
	A Helpless Person	188
	Our Wealth	189
	Valedictory	191
	An Untitled Quatrain (poem)	194
	Content (poem)	195
	An Emendation of Mary Gardiner Brainard's "Not Knowing" (poem)	196
	A Victorious Defeat (short story)	197
	How It Happened (short story)	206
	The Result of an Experiment (short story)	213
	Laurel Camp, and What Came of It (short story)	221
	A Working List on Teaching and Learning	229
	Appendixes
A.	Jonathan Townley Crane's Collegiate Achievements	233
B.	Novels and Novel-Reading: Jonathan Townley Crane	237
C.	Mystery and Discovery: Jonathan Townley Crane	242
D.	Words and Their Uses: Frank Olive	246
E.	Not Knowing: Mary Gardiner Brainard	248
	Index	251

Editorial Reviews

Once widely scattered, these stories, essays, sketches, and drawings together present a fascinating backdrop against which to consider Stephen as both a writer and man. Readers will welcome the humor and wit of these pages, but they will perhaps be won over most powerfully by the Cranes' intense interest in the political and social issues of 19th-century America.

Virginia Quarterly Review