Stephen Crane: A Life of Fire
by Paul Sorrentino
Stephen Crane told his stories in printed prose, color always emphasizing the mood of the protagonist, the bleakness or beauty of the setting.
Like music stirs the human heart, color enhanced the telling of his tales.
"Maggie of the Streets" ambles along the bleak, black streets of the NY Bowery searching, searching for happiness. The street lights outline her figure as she slinks along, despairingly.
Or "Red Badge of Courage," the young, frightened soldier Henry Fleming stares at the smoke-filled sky and battlefield cluttered with dead soldiers, grey and red-stained lying all about. Through the mist of dark clouds a host of white light, the rounded Sun draws his eyes, fills him with a sense of a new day.
Color in moods; color that framed the tale, the wonder of color, is Stephen Crane.
[Thank you, Rita!]
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