I received volume 17, number 1 & 2 of Stephen Crane Studies this week. This is published by the Stephen Crane Society and as we've said before, is a must-have subscription for any Crane fan. Ordering info and table of contents for the last few issues can be found here. With this post i'd like to briefly go through #1, and in our next post we'll look at #2.
Enclosed with the issues was a very polite dues renewal notice. The editor, Paul Sorrentino, points out that the subscription/membership fee of $10 is still the same as it was for volume 1 in 1992. He makes a good point so i think i will forward this bill to my financial secretary for review. However it is signed "Paul" in what appears to be blue ink. Since Sorrentino is one of the top Stephen Crane experts i might have to archive this signed bill and add it to my Crane collection.
The look of Stephen Crane Studies hasn't changed much since i started subscribing back in 04-05. It is a slim half-page volume with a creamy cover and a photo of Stephen Crane on the front. The first article in volume 17, #1 is called "New York City Topography of Maggie and George's Mother" by Stanley Wertheim. It is the longest article in here and is an interesting read.
Next article is "Crane's "Red Wafer" Again" by George Monteiro. This is a funny one, as the author cites old school Crane critic John Berryman knocking down Robert W Stallman's theory that the wafer in the Red Badge of Courage is supposed to be sacramental. Instead the red wafer is supposedly inspired by discs used to seal letters back in the day. Which makes a lot more sense considering that Crane was not a religious-minded person. Monteiro ends the brief article by looking at Portuguese, Brazilian, and Spanish translations of Red Badge. He looked at five translations, and only one translates "wafer" as "seal." The other four follow Stallman's thinking and translate "wafer" as "host."
The third article is "The President's Column: In a Jocular Vein" by Tom Clayton of the University of Minnesota. He is talking about Ambrose Bierce and Stephen Crane, and a course on them he almost taught in '85-'86 but never did. Wow and i thought i was a slacker...get to it, buddy! He mentions a few of Crane's cynical poems and then Bierce's definition of cynic in The Devil's Dictionary. Sorrentino puts an editor's note at the bottom of this article that says, "...Though it deals with more than Crane, readers of Stephen Crane Studies should find it interesting." Luckily for him i do, and i also like Bierce, so i won't get upset and start pressin' charges.
Last thing in #1 is a review of Stephen Crane Remembered, edited by Sorrentino, 2006. The review is by Donald Vanouse, so don't mess around.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Monday, August 31, 2009
Stephen Crane's Lonely Hearts Club Band?
I hear "The Beatles: Rock Band" is coming out soon, and quite frankly i could care less. Video games like that aren't my thing. The interesting part is that the two surviving Beatles (McCartney, Starr) and the widows of George Harrison (Olivia) and John Lennon (Yoko) supposedly had so much input with this project. Which of course makes sense.
I felt guilty letting my mind wander to Beatles thoughts while pondering this video game, so i quickly searched for a Stephen Crane tangent to riff off on (that's cool guitarspeak, people). Believe it or not, Stephen Crane is on the cover of one of the greatest albums of all time, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band!
Check it out on this website, scroll down half way to see the album cover. Here is the detail, rather hard to see, but Crane is at center in this image, wedged between a guy's face and and hand.
Hmm, this forces the question: Who was consulted on Stephen Crane's behalf before he was included on one of the best selling albums of all time? While it's awesome the Beatles thought to include him, I've got to say, the pic of him is rather hard to see, mixed in there among 60 other figures. It would have been so much better had the cover of Sgt. Pepper featured just Stephen Crane...or ok, the Beatles and him.
What is nice is that he is placed directly above Paul McCartney's head. However, this is probably connected to that weird marketing ploy which spread the rumor that the real Paul died during the Beatles' rise and was replaced by a double. Don't know about you but i'm not too keen on Stephen Crane's partially obscured face being used as a false hint to something that never happened...or did it?
But i suppose i can overlook all this and get really grooved out that Crane is on the Sgt. Pepper cover. I just need my magnifying glass to make sure it's really him. Also need my meds, because the rest of the cover gives me seizures!
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Washington Square Press
In one of my first posts to this blog i mentioned my first brush with the work of Stephen Crane: picking up a copy of The Red Badge of Courage in my middle school's library. I had an image of that cover in my mind all these years since, but i only recently found a photo of it online:
The soldiers drew me in. I only wonder if the cover wasn't quite so cool, when if ever would i have discovered Stephen Crane for myself? So i'd just like to thank the publisher, Washington Square Press, for catching my eye. There is also a Signet paperback with an almost identical cover:
I don't know where that Civil War photo comes from, so if you do please leave a comment below. Just don't say Matthew Brady or you'll be shot with a rusty cartridge. It's a great photo, and i remember as i kid i was trying to decide which Red Badge character would be which soldier in the photo. I suppose for me, Henry is the one in the second row from the front, on the right, and Wilson is the leaning guy on his left. What do you think? And who are the rest of them?
After getting hooked by the Red Badge i then went to the public library looking for Crane books and found this edition of Maggie & other stories, which also happens to be published by Washington Square Press:
Monday, July 27, 2009
RETURN of the LANTHORN
No doubt you remember our April 2009 post about Stephen Crane signed copies of the Lanthorn Book available for sale. Well, as proof this blog is fast becoming the cutting edge of all things Crane, we've now seen one of the mentioned copies sold at auction earlier this month!
RR Auction of Amherst New Hampshire sold copy #38 of the Lanthorn in their July online auction. (The listing has already been taken down and replaced with the August auction items, and their past auction database is not currently functional). It sold for $3944 with the 20% buyers premium factored in. This is the same copy that was listed for sale by University Archives. John Reznikoff of University Archives is also affiliated with RR Auction.
The University Archives listing offered the book for $5,000. The RR Auction selling price of $3944 is respectable, but quite a bargain considering how rare the Lanthorn is, and considering the overall values of Crane signatures. The economy certainly has something to do with it. Also this Lanthorn book did have some stains, including a slight one under Crane's signature. Based on this result i personally wouldn't place any Crane signed items on the auction block right now.
It's interesting to take a look at how the Lanthorn Book fared against its fellows in the same Auction category (July 2009, Art & Literature, RR Auction). Among the top seven single-item sellers, Crane's Lanthorn placed right smack in the middle...
$5407 Mark Twain portrait of Howells or Laffan
$5251 Hemingway signed book For Whom The Bell Tolls
$4339 TE Lawrence autograph letter signed
$3944 Stephen Crane signed Lanthorn book #38
$3876 Charlotte Bronte clipped signature
$3586 Ernest Hemingway signed photo
$3259 Mark Twain signed photo
We should also note that this was described as a Stephen Crane signed book, with the other less famous signers being pretty much ignored in this case, poor boys!
Oh, and who was the buyer of this wonderful Lanthorn? Dear Sir, Madam, or Soulless Corporate Entity, you have exquisite taste, if you are reading this please leave a comment below and out yourself!
RR Auction of Amherst New Hampshire sold copy #38 of the Lanthorn in their July online auction. (The listing has already been taken down and replaced with the August auction items, and their past auction database is not currently functional). It sold for $3944 with the 20% buyers premium factored in. This is the same copy that was listed for sale by University Archives. John Reznikoff of University Archives is also affiliated with RR Auction.
The University Archives listing offered the book for $5,000. The RR Auction selling price of $3944 is respectable, but quite a bargain considering how rare the Lanthorn is, and considering the overall values of Crane signatures. The economy certainly has something to do with it. Also this Lanthorn book did have some stains, including a slight one under Crane's signature. Based on this result i personally wouldn't place any Crane signed items on the auction block right now.
It's interesting to take a look at how the Lanthorn Book fared against its fellows in the same Auction category (July 2009, Art & Literature, RR Auction). Among the top seven single-item sellers, Crane's Lanthorn placed right smack in the middle...
$5407 Mark Twain portrait of Howells or Laffan
$5251 Hemingway signed book For Whom The Bell Tolls
$4339 TE Lawrence autograph letter signed
$3944 Stephen Crane signed Lanthorn book #38
$3876 Charlotte Bronte clipped signature
$3586 Ernest Hemingway signed photo
$3259 Mark Twain signed photo
We should also note that this was described as a Stephen Crane signed book, with the other less famous signers being pretty much ignored in this case, poor boys!
Oh, and who was the buyer of this wonderful Lanthorn? Dear Sir, Madam, or Soulless Corporate Entity, you have exquisite taste, if you are reading this please leave a comment below and out yourself!
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Dog abuse story
We are now well into July. The heat, laziness and adventure of the summer season plants a three-letter word in our heads so we can't stop thinking about it. That's right.....DOG. These strange creatures go hand-in-hand with the summertime, so i've excavated a dog story from the Crane canon, A Dark Brown Dog.
I want to warn all the PETA people and Obama voters that this is quite a disturbing dog story. In fact it reads as softcore porn for the Michael Vick circle. So if you're really not up for reading, then don't. I also want to stress that Stephen Crane was a great animal lover, especially with dogs and horses, so don't misread the message of this story...
A Dark Brown Dog by Stephen Crane
It's quite a simple story. A boy is walking around when he encounters a small dog, beats the hell out it, it follows him home, the family grudgingly accepts the dog then beats the hell out of it. The boy and dog are friends. The dog gets killed. Whoops did i forget to say ***SPOILER ALERT***
Over the course of the story the poor dog is beaten with the following items (and we are lead to believe, many more that aren't specifically stated):
-fist
-stick
-rope
-foot
-saucepan
-brooms
-coal
-coffee pot
It is also abused in the following ways:
-dragged up a staircase
-chased around a room
-underfed
-verbally abused
-lifted up by one leg
-swung about head
-thrown from fifth story window
As i said in my intro, this is quite shocking to most modern readers, Vick circle excluded. Was such dog abuse common in the late 19th century? Probably moreso than it is today. And what is the purpose of this story then? Perhaps to show how ridiculous and mean the humans look when they abuse this innocent dog. Why am i posing questions then answering them myself? In the hopes that students will copy my answers verbatim and fail their literature classes.
Personally i'd rank A Dark Brown Dog quite low when compared to the rest of the Master's stories. I suppose you could say it's an early animal rights piece, but what would the contemporary readers' reaction have been other than 'Awww,' 'Har!Har!Har!' and 'Golly gee let me stop beating my own dark brown dog so frequently!' ?
This story is more fun if you remove the dog from it entirely, and substitute the name of one of your least-favorite celebrities. For instance, here is an excerpt that substitutes TV know-it-all Dr. Phil McGraw for the dog....
"The child's practised eye instantly noted his father's state. He dived under the table, where experience had taught him was a rather safe place. Dr. Phil, lacking skill in such matters, was, of course, unaware of the true condition of affairs. He looked with interested eyes at his friend's sudden dive. He interpreted it to mean: Joyous gambol. He started to patter across the floor to join him. He was the picture of Dr. Phil en route to a friend.
The head of the family saw him at this moment. He gave a huge howl of joy, and knocked Dr. Phil down with a heavy coffee-pot. Dr. Phil, yelling in supreme astonishment and fear, writhed to his feet and ran for cover. The man kicked out with a ponderous foot. It caused Dr. Phil to swerve as if caught in a tide. A second blow of the coffee-pot laid him upon the floor."
Doesn't that make the story much easier to swallow now? Which raises another question; Are people bothered more by the suffering of animals than the suffering of their own species? Um, i dunno. And we've thrown Dr. Phil out the window so we can't even ask him...
I want to warn all the PETA people and Obama voters that this is quite a disturbing dog story. In fact it reads as softcore porn for the Michael Vick circle. So if you're really not up for reading, then don't. I also want to stress that Stephen Crane was a great animal lover, especially with dogs and horses, so don't misread the message of this story...
A Dark Brown Dog by Stephen Crane
It's quite a simple story. A boy is walking around when he encounters a small dog, beats the hell out it, it follows him home, the family grudgingly accepts the dog then beats the hell out of it. The boy and dog are friends. The dog gets killed. Whoops did i forget to say ***SPOILER ALERT***
Over the course of the story the poor dog is beaten with the following items (and we are lead to believe, many more that aren't specifically stated):
-fist
-stick
-rope
-foot
-saucepan
-brooms
-coal
-coffee pot
It is also abused in the following ways:
-dragged up a staircase
-chased around a room
-underfed
-verbally abused
-lifted up by one leg
-swung about head
-thrown from fifth story window
As i said in my intro, this is quite shocking to most modern readers, Vick circle excluded. Was such dog abuse common in the late 19th century? Probably moreso than it is today. And what is the purpose of this story then? Perhaps to show how ridiculous and mean the humans look when they abuse this innocent dog. Why am i posing questions then answering them myself? In the hopes that students will copy my answers verbatim and fail their literature classes.
Personally i'd rank A Dark Brown Dog quite low when compared to the rest of the Master's stories. I suppose you could say it's an early animal rights piece, but what would the contemporary readers' reaction have been other than 'Awww,' 'Har!Har!Har!' and 'Golly gee let me stop beating my own dark brown dog so frequently!' ?
This story is more fun if you remove the dog from it entirely, and substitute the name of one of your least-favorite celebrities. For instance, here is an excerpt that substitutes TV know-it-all Dr. Phil McGraw for the dog....
"The child's practised eye instantly noted his father's state. He dived under the table, where experience had taught him was a rather safe place. Dr. Phil, lacking skill in such matters, was, of course, unaware of the true condition of affairs. He looked with interested eyes at his friend's sudden dive. He interpreted it to mean: Joyous gambol. He started to patter across the floor to join him. He was the picture of Dr. Phil en route to a friend.
The head of the family saw him at this moment. He gave a huge howl of joy, and knocked Dr. Phil down with a heavy coffee-pot. Dr. Phil, yelling in supreme astonishment and fear, writhed to his feet and ran for cover. The man kicked out with a ponderous foot. It caused Dr. Phil to swerve as if caught in a tide. A second blow of the coffee-pot laid him upon the floor."
Doesn't that make the story much easier to swallow now? Which raises another question; Are people bothered more by the suffering of animals than the suffering of their own species? Um, i dunno. And we've thrown Dr. Phil out the window so we can't even ask him...
Sunday, June 28, 2009
RW Stallman inscribed book
Well the period of mourning for Stephen Crane is now over, and it's time to get to the business at hand. Just so happens we at Crane Crusaders central division recently acquired a very interesting Crane item. It's a copy of the Crane Omnibus inscribed by RW Stallman! Here is the seller's description:
STEPHEN CRANE: AN OMNIBUS. New York: Knopf, 1961. Fifth printing of the first collected edition. Edited, with an Introduction and notes, by Robert Wooster Stallman. Presentation copy inscribed by Stallman "For President and Mrs. Homer Babbidge" and dated Christmas 1963. Homer Babbidge was president of the University of Connecticut from 1962-1972, and the university's library now bears his name. Stallman has also added a notation beneath his inscription indicating the pages that reference 19th century Connecticut author John William de Forest (1826-1906). In Stallman's introduction to The Red Badge of Courage here, he notes how de Forest's graphic "modern" military realism preceded Cranes by a quarter century. 703 pp. 8o. Red cloth with gilt titles.
This book was exciting for me on a number of levels. It's a Crane book that i didn't have. It's signed by RW Stallman, a very cool literary scholar. It's a gift to Homer Babbidge, namesake of UConn's library. And the inscription references a Connecticut author as a precursor to Crane. Since i was raised in Connecticut this book was just too good to pass up.
When i buy stuff like this i get the guilty feeling that it belongs in a library or a museum! At least until i remember i'm a literary nerd, and no one really cares for this stuff anymore except a hardcore group of us! Well it has found a good home with my collection.
I'm also kinda curious how the book made it from Babbidge's hands to mine. The seller said it comes from the library of George deForest Lord, the author and Yale professor born in 1919. Assuming Mr. Lord is a relative of the deForest author mentioned by Stallman, maybe we can assume that Babbidge sent it along to him? Jeez, talk about re-gifting!
This book didn't cost very much, or i wouldn't have been able to afford it. This is a one-of-a-kind item, and i'd bet that Stallman signed books are pretty hard to find. As for authenticity, i think we're pretty safe....i mean come on people, who would bother to forge something like this?!
Anyway i'm glad to welcome this book into my Crane collection. If you're excited as i am about this, leave a comment below...
Friday, June 5, 2009
Rest in Peace
Alas, today is the day Stephen Crane died! Cora took his body back to the States and he was buried in Evergreen Cemetery (Hillside, New Jersey). It's so hard for humans to deal with death. We sort of fumble through the burial process and take grieving as a personal matter, while at the same time we've got to get on with our own lives.
The Upturned Face, one of Crane's Spanish-American War stories, deals with this topic. Here is the text of this extremely short story. It was first published in Ainslee's Magazine just a few months before Crane's death. And here is a short film version, directed by Edward Folger in 1972.
Take a few moments to appreciate Stephen Crane this week! The man was a great artist with rare gifts, and though his life was short, we're lucky to have today what he left behind.
The Upturned Face, one of Crane's Spanish-American War stories, deals with this topic. Here is the text of this extremely short story. It was first published in Ainslee's Magazine just a few months before Crane's death. And here is a short film version, directed by Edward Folger in 1972.
Take a few moments to appreciate Stephen Crane this week! The man was a great artist with rare gifts, and though his life was short, we're lucky to have today what he left behind.
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