Stephen Crane

Born

Nov 1, 1871

Newark, New Jersey, Stephen Crane was the 14th and last child of Reverend Jonathan Townley Crane, a Methodist Episcopal minister, and Mary Helen Peck Crane.

College

Oct 3, 1888

Claverack College (1888-90) before spending less than two years as a college student (first at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, and then at Syracuse University). He then moved to Paterson, New Jersey,

College

Oct 3, 1888

Claverack College (1888-90) before spending less than two years as a college student (first at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, and then at Syracuse University). He then moved to Paterson, New Jersey,

Literary Career

Oct 3, 1892

Crane truly embarked upon a literary career in 1892, when he moved to New York and began freelancing as a writer.

Review Following Maggie's Release

Jan 1, 1893

Calling the book "the most truthful and unhackneyed study of the slums I have yet read."

First Book Maggie: A Girl of the Streets

Oct 3, 1893

While Crane most likely had completed an early draft of his first book, the novella Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (1893), while studying at Syracuse, it wasn't until after moving to New York that he rewrote and finalized the piece.Maggie was initially rejected by several publishers who feared that Crane's description of slum life would shock readers. Crane ended up publishing the work himself in 1893, under the pseudonym "Johnston Smith."

Second edition of the book

Jan 1, 1896

Softening some of the book's graphic details.

Crane set sail for Cuba

Oct 3, 1897

However, after the ship on which he was traveling, the SS Commodore, sank, Crane spent a day and a half adrift with three other men. His account of the ordeal resulted in one of the world's great short stories, "The Open Boat."

The Open Boat

Oct 3, 1897

Wrote after the ship sank.

Crane went to Greece

Jan 1, 1898

Unable to get to Cuba, in April 1898, Crane went to Greece to report on the Greco-Turkish War, taking with him Cora Taylor, a former brothel proprietor.

Crane was running out of money

Jan 1, 1899

Collapsed during a party

Jan 1, 1899

Settles in Sussex, England

Jan 1, 1899

Wounds in the Rain

Jan 1, 1900

Whilomville Stories

Jan 1, 1900

Died at age 28

Jun 5, 1900

In May 1899, Crane, along with Cora Taylor, checked into a health spa on the edge of the Black Forest in Germany. One month later, on June 5, 1900, Stephen Crane died of tuberculosis at the age of 28.