The Monster and Other Stories by Stephen Crane, Fiction, Classics - Softcover

Crane, Stephen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 146380007X ISBN 13: 9781463800079

Publisher: Aegypan, 2011

Synopsis

The story takes place in the small, fictional town of Whilomville, New York. An African-American coachman named Henry Johnson, who is employed by the town's physician, Dr. Trescott, becomes horribly disfigured after he saves Trescott's son from a fire. When Henry is branded a "monster" by the town's residents, Trescott vows to shelter and care for him, resulting in his family's exclusion from the community. Little Jim was, for the time, engine Number 36, and he was making the run between Syracuse and Rochester. He was fourteen minutes behind time, and the throttle was wide open. In consequence, when he swung around the curve at the flower-bed, a wheel of his cart destroyed a peony. Number 36 slowed down at once and looked guiltily at his father, who was mowing the lawn. The doctor had his back to this accident, and he continued to pace slowly to and fro, pushing the mower. Jim dropped the tongue of the cart. He looked at his father and at the broken flower. Finally he went to the peony and tried to stand it on its pins, resuscitated, but the spine of it was hurt, and it would only hang limply from his hand. Jim could do no reparation. He looked again towards his father. He went on to the lawn, very slowly, and kicking wretchedly at the turf. Presently his father came along with the whirring machine, while the sweet, new grass blades spun from the knives. In a low voice, Jim said, "Pa!"

About this title

From the Back Cover:

The harrowing title tale from this collection recounts the experiences of an African-American coachman who becomes horribly disfigured after rescuing his employer's son from a fire. A study of race and tolerance as well as the challenges posed by deformity, this major work by the author of The Red Badge of Courage originally appeared in 1898. The last of Stephen Crane's work to be published in his lifetime, the story was rediscovered in the mid-twentieth century and acclaimed by Ralph Ellison as "one of the parents of the modern American novel."
This volume also features two additional short stories by Crane: "The Blue Hotel," in which a nervous visitor is led astray by his own preconceptions about the Wild West, and "His New Mittens," the touching tale of a little boy who allows himself to be goaded into a snowball fight and attempts to outrun his mistake.

About the Author:

Stephen Crane (1871 - 1900) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. Prolific throughout his short life, he wrote notable works in the Realist tradition as well as early examples of American Naturalism and Impressionism. He is recognized by modern critics as one of the most innovative writers of his generation.

About this edition

• Publisher: Aegypan
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 146380007X
• ISBN 13: 9781463800079
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 114