Editing Stephen Crane (section)

===Style and technique===
Stephen Crane's fiction is typically categorized as representative of [[Naturalism (literature)|Naturalism]], [[American realism]], [[Impressionism (literature)|Impressionism]] or a mixture of the three.  Critic Sergio Perosa, for example, wrote that the work presents a "symbiosis" of Naturalistic ideals and Impressionistic methods.<ref>Nagel, p. 8</ref>  When asked whether he would write an autobiography in 1896, Crane responded that he "dare not say that I am honest.  I merely say that I am as nearly honest as a weak mental machinery will allow."<ref>Wolford, p. 99</ref>  Similarities between the stylistic techniques in Crane's writing and [[Impressionism|Impressionist painting]]—including the use of color and [[chiaroscuro]]—are often cited to support the theory that Crane was not only an Impressionist but also influenced by the movement.<ref>Rogers, p. 292</ref>  H. G. Wells remarked upon "the great influence of the studio" on Crane's work, quoting a passage from ''The Red Badge of Courage'' as an example: "Camp fires, like red, peculiar blossoms, dotted the night.... From this little distance the many fires, with the black forms of men passing to and fro before the crimson rays, made weird and satanic effects."<ref>Wells, p. 234</ref>  Although no direct evidence exists that Crane formulated a precise theory of his craft, he vehemently rejected [[Sentimentalism (literature)|sentimentality]], asserting that "a story should be logical in its action and faithful to character.  Truth to life itself was the only test, the greatest artists were the simplest, and simple because they were true."<ref>Nagel, p. 18</ref>

[[Image:Battle of Chancellorsville.png|thumb|left|''[[Battle of Chancellorsville]]'' by Kurz and Allison; Crane's realistic portrayal of war has earned him recognition from numerous critics and scholars throughout the years]]
Poet and biographer [[John Berryman]] suggested that there were three basic variations, or "norms", of Crane's narrative style.<ref>Bergon, p. 2</ref>  The first, "flexible, swift, abrupt and nervous", is best exemplified in ''The Red Badge of Courage'', while the second ("supple majesty") is believed to relate to "The Open Boat", and the third ("much more closed, circumstantial and 'normal' in feeling and syntax") to later works such as ''The Monster''.<ref>Berryman, p. 284</ref> Crane's work, however, cannot be determined by style solely on chronology.  Not only does his fiction not take place in any particular region with similar characters, but it varies from serious in tone to reportorial writing and light fiction.<ref>Gibson (1968), p. 146</ref>  Crane's writing, both fiction and nonfiction, is consistently driven by immediacy and is at once concentrated, vivid and intense.<ref>Bergon, p. 5</ref>  The novels and short stories contain poetic characteristics such as shorthand prose, suggestibility, shifts in perspective and [[Ellipsis|ellipses]] between and within sentences.<ref>Bergon, p. 26</ref>  Similarly, omission plays a large part in Crane's work; the names of his protagonists are not commonly used and sometimes they are not named at all.<ref>Bloom, p. 5</ref>

Crane was often criticized by early reviewers for his frequent incorporation of everyday speech into dialogue, mimicking the regional accents of his characters with colloquial stylization.<ref>Bergon, p. 6</ref>  This is apparent in his first novel, in which Crane ignored the romantic, sentimental approach of slum fiction; he instead concentrated on the cruelty and sordid aspects of poverty, expressed using the Bowery's crude dialect and profanity.<ref>Davis, p. 55</ref>  The distinct dialect of his Bowery characters is apparent at the beginning of the text; the title character admonishes her brother saying: "Yeh knows it puts mudder out when yes comes home half dead, an' it's like we'll all get a poundin'."<ref>Beer, p. 84</ref>