tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post1981457952831611105..comments2024-03-29T03:04:00.853-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: Stephen Crane's Civil War stories - the stupid water derided himAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-70882199507418158792016-01-20T16:51:37.022-06:002016-01-20T16:51:37.022-06:00I think there is supposed to be a difference betwe...I think there is supposed to be a difference betweein "infantry" and "infantree" - the emphasis in "infantree" would be on the last, longer syllable. It doesn't seem very Irish, thoughRoger Allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11012987757094423896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-19791897772721959562016-01-20T13:44:10.760-06:002016-01-20T13:44:10.760-06:00Thanks for that story. It’s the small details like...Thanks for that story. It’s the small details like the infantrymen sleeping “feet to the front and his head rearward” that show the writer to be veteran. <i>Miss Ravenel</i> also has embarrassing attempts at Irish dialect. In reading, am I supposed to “hear” a difference between <i>infantree</i> and <i>infantry</i>? But it does remind me of a scene in the novel where some Irish enlisted men engage in macabre banter while discussing the nearby corpses of fallen Confederates, another scene that felt more reported than imagined.Bill from PAhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14195033244316383976noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-80124828317484183252016-01-19T08:46:29.261-06:002016-01-19T08:46:29.261-06:00That De Forest story - which I have sampled, not r...That De Forest story - which I have sampled, not read through - is of high interest. It helps show the imaginative leap Crane and Bierce were making. They could shake off some of the conventional ideas about fiction that De Forest was stuck with. Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-13230949790207283382016-01-19T04:58:14.636-06:002016-01-19T04:58:14.636-06:00On secind thoughts:
the difference between the De...On secind thoughts:<br />the difference between the De Forest and Crane's descriptions of battle is that the veteran De Forest needs to imagine and put in something more interesting - a story - where for Crane imagining the battle alone is interesting enough.Roger Allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11012987757094423896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-67698789063929874572016-01-18T17:57:33.282-06:002016-01-18T17:57:33.282-06:00There's a short story by De Forest - The Briga...There's a short story by De Forest - The Brigade Commander - on Gutenberg which echoes Bill from PA's description of his writings in miniature: a melodramatic plot and realistic individual studies of soldiers and a detailed account of manouevres in battle jammed together. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23182Roger Allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11012987757094423896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-28459883841836390822016-01-17T23:11:40.587-06:002016-01-17T23:11:40.587-06:00I only know De Forest from Patriotic Gore, and sin...I only know De Forest from <i>Patriotic Gore</i>, and since I have not actually read <i>Patriotic Gore</i> I only know him as a rumor. I should read his book. I should read <i>Patriotic Gore</i>, too.<br /><br />Roger's description of Crane's youthfully exuberant prose style is exactly right. It is more evident the earlier his writing. I am not complaining - Crane always gives me something to read.<br /><br />Jean, I did not know that. I am not surprised.<br /><br />The Crane biography that tempts me is Christopher Benfey's, because I have profited so much from Benfey's writing. Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-57371314159180630202016-01-17T09:02:36.059-06:002016-01-17T09:02:36.059-06:00I think reading authors' biographies is someti...I think reading authors' biographies is sometimes very useful in conjunction with reading their works; my old New Criticism teachers would have had heart attacks if I had said that in their presence many years ago. In connection with that statement, I have posted an author's biography at the new, improved, and back-to-its-roots Beyond Eastrod this morning. Meanwhile, I continue to follow with interest your Stephen Crane encounters.RTDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17113953356514605424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-46037482512144249512016-01-16T17:45:02.773-06:002016-01-16T17:45:02.773-06:00"...if I had no knowledge of the authors I do..."...if I had no knowledge of the authors I doubt I would be able to guess which one was the authentic soldier."<br /><br />From what I've read, actual Civil War vets thought Crane was a Civil War vet too. He sounded really authentic.Jeanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14247515387599954817noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-30435123254489712772016-01-16T15:00:25.464-06:002016-01-16T15:00:25.464-06:00"Written, at least, definitely written."..."Written, at least, definitely written."<br /><br />There is something journalistic about Crane's early military stories. Like Kipling, there's a knowingness to them which inspires both empathy and admiration and a certain distrust. Crane doesn't show off his cleverness and imagination as much as Kipling, but there is a certain conscious showing-off of his ability in the writing.<br />It could just be a young man astonished at and proud of what he can do, but it doesn't grate as much in verse - like Keats - as in prose. Perhaps it's because we accept and expect virtuosity in verse in a way we don't in prose.Roger Allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11012987757094423896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-83130680640006022162016-01-16T14:13:28.987-06:002016-01-16T14:13:28.987-06:00Have you read the 1867 novel Miss Ravenel's Co...Have you read the 1867 novel <i>Miss Ravenel's Conversion from Secession to Loyalty</i> by John W. De Forest? Its main story is a version of “the marriage plot”, but beginning about halfway through there are some outstanding Civil War battle scenes, where De Forest’s firsthand experience of the war really tells.Bill from PAhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14195033244316383976noreply@blogger.com