Stephen Crane

This is a title in an inexpensive range of classics in the Penguin Popular Classics" series."

The Red Badge of Courage (1895) is a vivid psychological account of a young man's experience of fighting in the American Civil War, based on Crane's reading of popular descriptions of battle. The intensity of its narrative and its naturalistic power earned Crane instant success, and led to his spending most of his brief remaining life war reporting. The other stories collected in this volume draw on this experience; 'The Open Boat' (1898) was inspired by his fifty hour struggle with waves after his ship was sunk during an expedition to Cuba; 'The Monster' (1899) is a bitterly ironic commentary on the ostracization of a doctor for harbouring the servant who was disfigured and lost his sanity rescuing his son. As a rare example of Crane working in a vein of American Gothic, it is particularly striking for its treatment of race and social injustice. 'The Blue Hotel' traces the events that lead to a murder at a bar in a small Nebraska town. This edition is the most generously annotated edition of Crane's work, exploring it from a fresh critical perspective and focusing on his place as an experimental writer, his modernist legacy and his social as well as literary revisionism.

Dnešní návraty ke Craneovi, obdobně jako např. k Marku Twainovi, nejsou jen holdem průkopníkům moderní literatury za to, že otvírali brány nové tematice a razili cesty novému zpracování látky, hovorovému dialogu a satirickému vidění skutečnosti. Jsou především důkazem neobyčejné, stále aktuální umělecké působivosti Craneových próz a jeho nemalého literárního odkazu.Povídkový soubor Modrý hotel tzv. prvního autora nové americké literatury o sebevražedně nesnášenlivých a konfliktních reakcích návštěvníka jakéhosi západního městečka s křiklavou pohostinností nápadně modrého hotýlku klade ve svém druhém, antiklimatickém závěru až provokativně otázku lidského podílu na osudu druhých. Stačí připomenout povídky Andersonovy nebo Hemingwayovy, abychom docenili Craneovu roli ve vývoji moderní povídky.

The Red Badge of Courage (1895) is a vivid psychological account of a young man's experience of fighting in the American Civil War, based on Crane's reading of popular descriptions of battle. The intensity of its narrative and its naturalistic power earned Crane instant success, and led to his spending most of his brief remaining life war reporting. The other stories collected in this volume draw on this experience; `The Open Boat' (1898) was inspired by his fifty hour struggle with waves after his ship was sunk during an expedition to Cuba; `The Monster' (1899) is a bitterly ironic commentary on the ostracization of a doctor for harbouring the servant who was disfigured and lost his sanity rescuing his son. As a rare example of Crane working in a vein of American Gothic, it is particularly striking for its treatment of race and social injustice. `The Blue Hotel' traces the events that lead to a murder at a bar in a small Nebraska town. This edition is the most generously annotated edition of Crane's work, exploring it from a fresh critical perspective and focusing on his place as an experimental writer, his modernist legacy and his social as well as literary revisionism.

Shining examples of American literature at its best, these four novels explore timeless themes adventure, war, sex, and morality through compelling narratives. An adulteress, a runaway boy, a terrified soldier, and a maltreated sailor the heroes of these novels have become a part of popular culture. This indispensable volume includes "The Scarlet Letter "by Nathaniel Hawthorne "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn "by Mark Twain "The Red Badge of Courage "by Stephen Crane "Billy Budd "by Herman Melville With an Introduction by Sandra Newman".