Editing Stephen Crane (section)

===Travels and fame===
[[File:CranebyLinson1894.jpg|thumb|upright|Detail taken from an 1894 portrait of Crane by friend and photographer Corwin Knapp Linson. Linson said the author's profile reminded him "of the young [[Napoleon]]—but not so hard, Steve".<ref>Davis, p. 80</ref>]]
At the end of January 1895, Crane left on what he called "a very long and circuitous newspaper trip" to the west.<ref>Davis, p. 99</ref> While writing feature articles for the Bacheller syndicate, he traveled to [[Saint Louis, Missouri]], [[Nebraska]], [[New Orleans]], [[Galveston, Texas]], and [[Mexico City]].<ref>Wertheim (1994), p. 121</ref> Irving Bacheller would later state that he "sent Crane to [[Mexico]] for new color",<ref>Stallman, p. 141</ref> which the author found in the form of Mexican slum life.  Whereas he found the lower class in New York pitiful, he was impressed by the "superiority" of the Mexican peasants' contentment and "even refuse[d] to pity them".<ref>Stallman, p. 144</ref>

Returning to New York five months later, Crane joined the Lantern (alternately spelled "Lanthom" or "Lanthorne") Club organized by a group of young writers and journalists.<ref name=Wertheim_p132>Wertheim (1994), p. 132</ref> The club, located on the roof of an old house on [[William Street (Manhattan)|William Street]] near the [[Brooklyn Bridge]], served as a [[public house|drinking establishment]] and was decorated to look like a ship's cabin.<ref>Davis, p. 119</ref> There Crane ate one good meal a day, although friends were troubled by his "constant smoking, too much coffee, lack of food and poor teeth", as Nelson Greene put it.<ref>Davis, p. 120</ref> Living in near-poverty and greatly anticipating the publication of his books, Crane began work on two more novels: ''The Third Violet'' and ''[[George's Mother]]''.

''The Black Riders'' was published by Copeland & Day shortly before his return to New York in May, but it received mostly negative criticism for the poems' unconventional style and use of free verse. A piece in the ''Bookman'' called Crane "the [[Aubrey Beardsley]] of poetry"<ref>Davis, p. 117</ref> and a commentator from the ''[[Chicago Inter Ocean|Chicago Daily Inter-Ocean]]'' stated that "there is not a line of poetry from the opening to the closing page. [[Walt Whitman|Whitman]]'s ''[[Leaves of Grass]]'' were luminous in comparison. Poetic lunacy would be a better name for the book."<ref name=Wertheim_p132/> In June, the ''New York Tribune'' dismissed the book as "so much trash".<ref>Wertheim (1994), p. 135</ref> Crane was pleased that the book was "making some stir".<ref>Wertheim (1994), p. 134</ref>

In contrast to the reception for Crane's poetry, ''The Red Badge of Courage'' was welcomed with acclaim after its publication by [[D. Appleton & Company|Appleton]] in September 1895. For the next four months, the book was in the top six on bestseller lists around the country.<ref name="Dav129"/>  It arrived on the literary scene "like a flash of lightning out of a clear winter sky", according to [[H. L. Mencken]], who was about 15 at the time.<ref name="Dav129">Davis, p. 129</ref> The novel also became popular in Britain; [[Joseph Conrad]], a future friend of Crane, wrote that the novel "detonated... with the impact and force of a twelve-inch shell charged with a very high explosive".<ref name="Dav129"/> Appleton published two, possibly three, printings in 1895 and as many as eleven more in 1896.<ref>Wertheim (1994), p. 141</ref> Although some critics considered the work overly graphic and profane, it was widely heralded for its realistic portrayal of war and unique writing style. The ''[[Detroit Free Press]]'' declared that ''The Red Badge'' would give readers "so vivid a picture of the emotions and the horrors of the battlefield that you will pray your eyes may never look upon the reality."<ref>Davis, p. 127</ref>

Wanting to capitalize on the success of ''The Red Badge'', McClure Syndicate offered Crane a contract to write a series on Civil War battlefields. Because it was a wish of his to "visit the battlefield—which I was to describe—at the time of year when it was fought", Crane agreed.<ref>Davis, p. 138</ref> Visiting battlefields in Northern [[Virginia]], including [[Battle of Fredericksburg|Fredericksburg]], he would later produce five more Civil War tales: "Three Miraculous Soldiers", "The Veteran", "An Indiana Campaign", "An Episode of War" and "The Little Regiment".<ref>Davis, p. 143</ref>