One day Mr. Pawling said to me: “Stephen Crane has arrived in England. I asked him if there was anybody he wanted to meet and he mentioned two names. One of them was yours.” I had then just been reading, like the rest of the world, Crane’s Red Badge of Courage. The subject of that story was war, from the point of view of an individual soldier’s emotions. That individual (he remains1 nameless throughout) was interesting enough in himself, but on turning over the pages of that little book which had for the moment secured such a noisy recognition I had been even more interested in the personality of the writer. The picture of a simple and untried youth becoming through the needs of his country part of a great fighting machine was presented with an earnestness of purpose, a sense of tragic2 issues, and an imaginative force of expression which struck me as quite uncommon3 and altogether worthy4 of admiration5.
Apparently6 Stephen Crane had received a favourable7 impression from the reading of the Nigger of the Narcissus, a book of mine which had also been published lately. I was truly pleased to hear this.
On my next visit to town we met at a lunch. I saw a young man of medium stature8 and slender build, with very steady, penetrating9 blue eyes, the eyes of a being who not only sees visions but can brood over them to some purpose.
He had indeed a wonderful power of vision, which he applied10 to the things of this earth and of our mortal humanity with a penetrating force that seemed to reach, within life’s appearances and forms, the very spirit of life’s truth. His ignorance of the world at large — he had seen very little of it — did not stand in the way of his imaginative grasp of facts, events, and picturesque11 men.
His manner was very quiet, his personality at first sight interesting, and he talked slowly with an intonation12 which on some people, mainly Americans, had, I believe, a jarring effect. But not on me. Whatever he said had a personal note, and he expressed himself with a graphic13 simplicity14 which was extremely engaging. He knew little of literature, either of his own country or of any other, but he was himself a wonderful artist in words whenever he took a pen into his hand. Then his gift came out — and it was seen then to be much more than mere15 felicity of language. His impressionism of phrase went really deeper than the surface. In his writing he was very sure of his effects. I don’t think he was ever in doubt about what he could do. Yet it often seemed to me that he was but half aware of the exceptional quality of his achievement.
This achievement was curtailed16 by his early death. It was a great loss to his friends, but perhaps not so much to literature. I think that he had given his measure fully17 in the few books he had the time to write. Let me not be misunderstood: the loss was great, but it was the loss of the delight his art could give, not the loss of any further possible revelation. As to himself, who can say how much he gained or lost by quitting so early this world of the living, which he knew how to set before us in the terms of his own artistic18 vision? Perhaps he did not lose a great deal. The recognition he was accorded was rather languid and given him grudgingly19. The worthiest20 welcome he secured for his tales in this country was from Mr. W. Henley in the New Review and later, towards the end of his life, from the late Mr. William Blackwood in his magazine. For the rest I must say that during his sojourn21 in England he had the misfortune to be, as the French say, mal entoure. He was beset22 by people who understood not the quality of his genius and were antagonistic23 to the deeper fineness of his nature. Some of them have died since, but dead or alive they are not worth speaking about now. I don’t think he had any illusions about them himself: yet there was a strain of good-nature and perhaps of weakness in his character which prevented him from shaking himself free from their worthless and patronising attentions, which in those days caused me much secret irritation24 whenever I stayed with him in either of his English homes. My wife and I like best to remember him riding to meet us at the gate of the Park at Brede. Born master of his sincere impressions, he was also a born horseman. He never appeared so happy or so much to advantage as on the back of a horse. He had formed the project of teaching my eldest25 boy to ride, and meantime, when the child was about two years old, presented him with his first dog.
I saw Stephen Crane a few days after his arrival in London. I saw him for the last time on his last day in England. It was in Dover, in a big hotel, in a bedroom with a large window looking on to the sea. He had been very ill and Mrs. Crane was taking him to some place in Germany, but one glance at that wasted face was enough to tell me that it was the most forlorn of all hopes. The last words he breathed out to me were: “I am tired. Give my love to your wife and child.” When I stopped at the door for another look I saw that he had turned his head on the pillow and was staring wistfully out of the window at the sails of a cutter yacht that glided26 slowly across the frame, like a dim shadow against the grey sky.
Those who have read his little tale, “Horses,” and the story, “The Open Boat,” in the volume of that name, know with what fine understanding he loved horses and the sea. And his passage on this earth was like that of a horseman riding swiftly in the dawn of a day fated to be short and without sunshine.
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1
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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penetrating
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| adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的 | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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intonation
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| n.语调，声调；发声 | |
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graphic
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| adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的 | |
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simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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curtailed
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| v.截断，缩短( curtail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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grudgingly
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worthiest
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| 应得某事物( worthy的最高级 )； 值得做某事； 可尊敬的； 有（某人或事物）的典型特征 | |
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sojourn
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| v./n.旅居，寄居；逗留 | |
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beset
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| v.镶嵌；困扰，包围 | |
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antagonistic
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| adj.敌对的 | |
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irritation
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| n.激怒，恼怒，生气 | |
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eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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glided
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| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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