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The Monster and Other Stories (1899) is a collection of short fiction by American writer Stephen Crane. "The Monster," a novella, was originally published in 1898 in Harper's Magazine and has since been recognized as one of Crane's most important works, a story which critiques the racism prevalent in American society. In 1899, it was published alongside "The Blue Hotel" and "His New Mittens" in The Monster and Other Stories, which was the last work by Crane to be published during his lifetime.
In "The Monster," set in the fictional town of Whilomville, an African American coachmen employed by the wealthy Trescott family is horribly disfigured while attempting to save their young son Jimmie from a house fire. Despite his gruesome injuries, Henry Johnson survives, and Dr. Trescott gratefully nurses him back to health and offers him a place to stay on the family property. Meanwhile, the white townspeople, who view Johnson as a monster, vilify the Trescotts for transgressing the unspoken rules of racial segregation. As Johnson attempts to return to some sense of normalcy, he is rejected both by the African American and white communities, and retreats into a lonely, quiet life. "The Blue Hotel" is a story of violence, fate, and hatred, of a place where loneliness reigns among strangers, and where fear is a troublesome friend.
With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Stephen Crane's The Monster and Other Stories is a classic of American literature reimagined for modern readers.
About the author
Stephen Crane (1871-1900) was an American novelist, poet, and short story writer. Born in Newark, New Jersey to a family of Methodists, Crane was the youngest of fourteen children. He was a sickly child who excelled from a young age in reading and writing and, when he officially entered school at the age of nine, quickly surpassed the requirements and standards for his age group. As a teenager he attended military school, where he became a star baseball player and developed an interest in military life and history while performing poorly in academics. Crane briefly attended Syracuse University before embarking on a career as a full-time writer, composing short stories, sketches, and articles for several New York newspapers before using his own money to publish his first novella in 1893 after several publishers rejected Crane's manuscript. Although it generated some critical praise,
Maggie: A Girl of the Streets was largely a commercial failure for Crane. Despite this, the novella has since been recognized as an important early work of Crane's and as an invaluable precursor to
The Red Badge of Courage (1895), a Civil War novel which cemented the writer's reputation as a leading voice in contemporary fiction and pioneer of realism and literary Naturalism. When an 1896 scandal tarnished his reputation at home, Crane travelled abroad to work as a war correspondent, met his common-law wife Cora Taylor, survived a shipwreck off the coast of Florida, and moved to England, where he befriended such figures as Joseph Conrad and H.G. Wells. After a period of financial difficulty, Crane succumbed to tuberculosis at a sanatorium in Germany at the age of 28.
Summary
The Monster and Other Stories (1899) is a collection of short fiction by American writer Stephen Crane. “The Monster,” a novella, was originally published in 1898 in Harper’s Magazine and has since been recognized as one of Crane’s most important works, a story which critiques the racism prevalent in American society. In 1899, it was published alongside “The Blue Hotel” and “His New Mittens” in The Monster and Other Stories, which was the last work by Crane to be published during his lifetime.
In “The Monster,” set in the fictional town of Whilomville, an African American coachmen employed by the wealthy Trescott family is horribly disfigured while attempting to save their young son Jimmie from a house fire. Despite his gruesome injuries, Henry Johnson survives, and Dr. Trescott gratefully nurses him back to health and offers him a place to stay on the family property. Meanwhile, the white townspeople, who view Johnson as a monster, vilify the Trescotts for transgressing the unspoken rules of racial segregation. As Johnson attempts to return to some sense of normalcy, he is rejected both by the African American and white communities, and retreats into a lonely, quiet life. “The Blue Hotel” is a story of violence, fate, and hatred, of a place where loneliness reigns among strangers, and where fear is a troublesome friend.
With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Stephen Crane’s The Monster and Other Stories is a classic of American literature reimagined for modern readers.
