Stephen Crane was an American novelist, short story writer, poet and journalist.
Maggie: A Girl of the Streets
Read by Multiple Readers
Running Time:2:46:22 in 1 MP3 Audio CD
Stephen Crane's first novel, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets has been called "the first dark flower of American Naturalism" for its distinctive elements of naturalistic fiction. The chief character, Maggie, descends into prostitution after being led astray by her lover. Rather than focusing on those that make up the very rich or middle class, the novel highlights the deplorable living conditions of the working class during the so-called Gilded Age in New York's Bowery.
Selected Short Stories
Read by Greg W.
Running Time:7:07:15 in 1 MP3 Audio CD
At the time of his death at the age of 28, Stephen Crane had become an important figure in American literature. He was nearly forgotten, however, until two decades later when critics revived interest in his life and work. Stylistically, Crane's writing is characterized by vivid intensity, distinctive dialects, and irony. Common themes involve fear, spiritual crises and social isolation. Although recognized primarily for The Red Badge of Courage, which has become an American classic, Crane is also known for short stories such as "The Open Boat", "The Blue Hotel", "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky", and The Monster. His writing made a deep impression on 20th century writers, most prominent among them Ernest Hemingway, and is thought to have inspired the Modernists and the Imagists.
The Black Riders and Other Lines
Read by T. Tilbe
Running Time:00:44:00 in 1 MP3 Audio CD
Written in a purgative frenzy of pure imagination (“They came, and I wrote them, that’s all”), Stephen Crane’s The Black Riders and Other Lines is a strange, enigmatic, and sparsely-written collection of free verse that bristles with Old Testament fury, seethes with cosmic cynicism, and touches on themes of lost faith and existential terror.
The Red Badge of Courage; An Episode of the American Civil War
Read by John W. Michaels
Running Time:4:45:50 in 1 MP3 Audio CD
There comes a time in the course of battle when a participant casts his fate to the gods of war, and carries on without question, the task at hand. Living, dying, right or wrong, can be contemplated later. The spirit of the bayonet takes over and carries the youth through the crucible of battle to emerge a short time later several ages older.
Stephen Crane's classic novel gives us a glimpse into the mind of a young soldier as he passes through the experience he will never be able to forget, and possibly awaken him from his slumber in a sweat and panic for years to come.
The Monster and Other Stories
Read by Ben Tucker
Running Time:04:17:19 in 1 MP3 Audio CD
From the celebrated author of the Red Badge of Courage comes this final collection of stories released in Crane's lifetime. These stories often dwell upon how a single moment can cause life to comes crashing down around someone, how one decision can shape an entire community's perception, how one statement can affect the lives of everyone around them. From commentaries on human nature such as the title story's touching and tragic tale of a doctor who risks his family being ostracized in town for harboring a man who was hideously disfigured while saving his son from a raging inferno to the raucous gallows humor of "Twelve O' Clock" and "Moonlight on the Snow", these stories show a master storyteller whose skill was growing ever greater before his life was tragically cut short by tuberculosis at the age of 28.
War Is Kind
Read by Chip
Running Time:00:29:06 in 1 MP3 Audio CD
Published in 1899, just a year before his death, War Is Kind by Stephen Crane evokes again the dark imagery of war which made his fortune in The Red Badge Of Courage. Unlike that book, this collection leaves the battlefield itself behind to explore the damage war does to people's hearts and minds. Reeking of dashed hopes, simultaneously sympathetic with the victims of war and cynical about the purposes of war, Crane implicitly criticizes the image of the romantic hero and asks if Love can survive.
The poetic voice is one of an old and wearied soul, stark and disillusioned, which is all the more intriguing since Crane was dead before he reached his 30th birthday. His work calls to mind the Beat Poets of the mid 20th century in its powerful use of language and bleak idiomatic landscape. It is poetry on the cusp of the fin de siècle; echoing the passing age and presaging the newborn century.
Whilomville Stories
Read by Multiple Readers
Running Time:04:11:22 in 1 MP3 Audio CD
This collection consists of thirteen stories. The stories are set in the mythical town of Whilomville used by Stephen Crane for many of his best stories. They appeared in Harper's New Monthly Magazine between 1899 and 1900. The writing is crisp, the stories are poignant and funny (usually) and always tell us something about our quirky human nature.
Wounds In The Rain; War Stories
Read by David Wales
Running Time:08:20:46 in 1 MP3 Audio CD
Eleven stories of war by the author of The Red Badge of Courage. Stephen Crane was an American author. He is recognized by modern critics as one of the most innovative writers of his generation. Crane's writing is characterized by vivid intensity, distinctive dialects, and irony. Common themes involve fear, spiritual crises and social isolation. His writing made a deep impression on 20th-century writers, most prominent among them Ernest Hemingway, and is thought to have inspired the Modernists and the Imagists.