The Upturned Face, Stephen Crane
The Upturned Face, Stephen Crane
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The Upturned Face

Author: Stephen Crane

Narrator: Michael Jerod Smith

Unabridged: 9 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/08/2018


Synopsis

The horror of war repeats itself from one generation to the next. That’s why modern readers will empathize with the struggle of the Civil War soldiers depicted in this gritty short story by Stephen Crane, The Upturned Face. As they scramble to give their comrade a proper burial while the war rages on around them, their feelings of confusion and inadequacy could not be clearer. The story paints a stark and enduring contrast between war’s tender sadness and it’s relentless brutality.  

About Stephen Crane

American author Stephen Crane (1871-1900) won international fame with The Red Badge of Courage, which was acclaimed as the first modern war novel. Crane's works introduced realism into American literature, but his innovative technique and use of symbolism gave much of his best work a romantic rather than a naturalistic quality.

Crane was born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1871, the fourteenth child of a Methodist minister. He started to write stories at the age of eight, and at sixteen he was writing articles for the New York Tribune. Crane studied at Lafayette College and Syracuse University, then moved to New York, where he lived a bohemian life and worked as a freelance writer and journalist.

While Crane supported himself by writing, he lived among the poor in the Bowery slums to research his first novel, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets. Later, he became a war correspondent and traveled to Greece, Cuba, Texas, and Mexico to report on war events. His short story "The Open Boat" is based on his personal experience aboard a ship that sank en route to Cuba in 1896. Crane spent several days drifting in an open boat with a few other passengers before being rescued. Unfortunately, this experience permanently impaired his health.

In 1898, Crane settled in Sussex, England, where he lived with an author and the proprietress of a well-known brothel. In 1899, while in Greece, Crane wrote Active Service, which was based on the Greco-Turkish War. He then returned to Cuba to cover the Spanish-American War. However, shortly thereafter, the tuberculosis and malarial fever that he contracted during his Cuban shipwreck experience overcame him. Crane died on June 5, 1900, at the age of twenty-nine in Badenweiler, Germany.


Reviews

Goodreads review by K. Anna

I have arranged my takeaway thoughts into a haiku: "Innocent or stunned, Fretting one loss under fire Bodes ill for the war."......more

Goodreads review by Tom

3.5⭐......more

Goodreads review by Dave

A sad and raw scene.......more

Goodreads review by Sarld

I thought the context for this story was great and had a great deal of potential, but the writing itself did not greatly appeal to me. While starting in medias res is fine and helps convey the hurriedness of battle, the lack of characterization of the soldiers does not seem to justify it. I did enjo......more