《红色英勇勋章》包括了斯蒂芬•克莱恩短暂一生中的主要中、短篇作品。中篇小说《红色英勇勋章》，《街头女郎玛吉》、《怪物》，短篇小说《海上扁舟》、《蓝色的旅馆》、《新娘来到黄天镇》。

《红色英勇勋章》（1895）以美国南北战争（1861-1865）为背景，讲述了一位叫亨利•弗莱明的年轻人充满对战争的奇妙幻想，渴望过军旅生活，而不顾母亲的劝阻毅然参军的故事。小说从新兵的角度去描写战争，突出了战斗环境对个人的影响。

《街头女郎玛吉》（1893）描写了一位来自纽约底层社会的女孩沦为妓女的悲惨生活。《海上扁舟》是作家将自己去古巴采访途中遭遇的沉船经历经过加工写成的。这是美国文学史上第一部自然主义作品。这部作品是19世纪90年代探索城市贫民窟和堕落女孩的众多作品之一。他通过小说的主人公梅季的成长历程来探索主体的社会化过程，最终寻找促使梅季走向毁灭的“现实”。在这籍小说中，克莱恩探讨了人与自然和人与命运的关系，揭示了大自然对于人类命运的冷漠。

Stephen Crane (November 1, 1871 – June 5, 1900) was an American author. Prolific throughout his short life, he wrote notable works in the Realist tradition as well as early examples of American Naturalism and Impressionism. He is recognized by modern critics as one of the most innovative writers of his generation.

The eighth surviving child of Methodist Protestant parents, Crane began writing at the age of four and had published several articles by the age of 16. Having little interest in university studies, he left school in 1891 to work as a reporter and writer. Crane's first novel was the 1893 Bowery tale Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, generally considered by critics to be the first work of American literary Naturalism. He won international acclaim in 1895 for his Civil War novel The Red Badge of Courage, which he wrote without any battle experience.

In 1896, Crane endured a highly publicized scandal after appearing as a witness in the trial of a suspected prostitute, an acquaintance named Dora Clark. Late that year he accepted an offer to travel to Cuba as a war correspondent. As he waited in Jacksonville, Florida, for passage, he met Cora Taylor, the madam of a brothel, with whom he began a lasting relationship. En route to Cuba, Crane's ship sank off the coast of Florida, leaving him and others adrift for several days in a dinghy. Crane described the ordeal in "The Open Boat". During the final years of his life, he covered conflicts in Greece and lived in England with Cora, where he befriended writers such as Joseph Conrad and H. G. Wells. Plagued by financial difficulties and ill health, Crane died of tuberculosis in a Black Forest sanatorium at the age of 28.

At the time of his death, Crane was considered an important figure in American literature. After he was nearly forgotten for two decades, critics revived interest in his life and work. Crane's writing is characterized by vivid intensity, distinctive dialects, and irony. Common themes involve fear, spiritual crises and social isolation. Although recognized primarily for The Red Badge of Courage, which has become an American classic, Crane is also known for his poetry, journalism, and short stories such as "The Open Boat", "The Blue Hotel", "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky", and The Monster. His writing made a deep impression on 20th-century writers, most prominent among them Ernest Hemingway, and is thought to have inspired the Modernists and the Imagists.