Stephen+Crane

Stephen Townley Crane was born on November 1st ,1871 at 14 Mulberry Place in Newark, New Jersey into the large family of Mary Helen Peck (1827-1891) and Jonathan Towney Crane, a Methodist minister. After his father's death the Cranes moved to 508-4th Avenue in Asbury Park, New Jersey. The home is now preserved as a museum. After attending public school, Stephen crane attended the College of Liberal arts at the university of Syracuse, new york.
 * The Beginning**


 * During School**Crane studied at Lafayette College and Syracuse University. After his mother's death in 1890 - his father had died earlier - Crane moved to New York. He worked as a free-lance writer and journalist for the Bachellor-Johnson newspaper syndicate. While supporting himself by his pen, he lived among the poor in the Bowery slums to research his first novel,

After school Crane began writing sketches and short stories for newspapers, living in New York's Bowery district. Started as a serial, //The Red Badge of Courage// gained Crane almost instant fame and the esteem of Bachelor. Crane's ensuing travels inspired further works including "The Black Riders and Other Lines, "The Regiment", "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky" , "The Blue Hotel" , "War Is Kind" , //The Monster and Other Stories// , //Active Service// , and, said to be his finest short work, "The Open Boat" , a fictionalized account of his own experience adrift in a boat after the //Commodore// sank. Lily Brandon Munroe was the young wife of a rich geologist who was frequently away on business trips. She was staying at the Lake Avenue Hotel where the press bureau was also located and where Stephen worked. They scandalized the staid seashore resort as they spent the summer together strolling the boardwalk, attending dances, and sitting on the beach. Despite the disapproval of both their parents Stephen begged Lily to run off with him and she seriously considered doing it.
 * After School**

Despite his lovemaking, Stephen had a prolific writing summer. He filed ten reports on Asbury Park, wrote a New York story for the “Tribune,” and continued to work on his novel. His reporting on the resort doings had become even more daring. He took on James Bradley, the Christian founder of Asbury Park, and his penchant for posting signs like “Keep off the grass.” Stephen wrote an imaginary Bradley sign that said, “Don’t go in the water attired merely in a tranquil smile.” But it was writing about the Rica Day Parade of the United American Mechanics that was his undoing in Asbury Park. Offended at the sight of the wealthy, fashionably dressed onlookers who viewed the marching workers, he tossed off a scathing review for the “Tribune,” concluding that “The bona fide Asbury Parker is a man to whom a dollar, when held close to his eye, often shuts out any impression he may have had that other people possess rights.” He said of the resort city, Asbury Park creates nothing. It does not make; it only amuses
 * Later In Life**

Asbury Park was not amused.