After the four hundred pages of soul-sundering Hardy I felt like something a little shorter, though in its own right no less significant or, well, soul-sundering. So today I read Stephen Crane's novel The Red Badge of Courage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Badge_of_Courage), which was coincidentally also published in 1895 (the same year as Jude the Obscure).
This provided me with the perfect excuse to listen to three lectures in Arnold Weinstein's 84-lecture series on Classics of American Literature, as made available through The Teaching Company. Lectures 45, 46 and 47 deal with Crane's life and his writing and contain some excellent observations.
The particular edition I read is from Tor classics, and I encourage you to seek it out if at all possible. Not only is it inexpensive, it has an Introduction and Afterword by none other than 5-time Hugo award winning SF master Joe Haldeman.
If you're not familiar with Haldeman's work, please set some time aside for it! He has written some of the finest SF novels and short stories ever produced, and has also penned compelling non-genre fiction. His novel 1968, in particular, moved me deeply (and contains much on war, as does Crane's novel). I had the pleasure of meeting Joe at the Anaheim 2006 WorldCon and he was the nicest, warmest guy, signing stacks of his books for me and entertainining several minutes of my banter while I drooled. His comments on writing etc at various panels I attended were enlightening, thought-provoking -- and funny! Joe has his own blog, http://joe-haldeman.livejournal.com/ -- add it to your favorites right this second!
I can't point you to Stephen Crane's blog, since he died at the ripe old age of 28 in 1900. But I can point you to his deeply crafted, enduring and ironic novel, consistently considered not only part of the canon of American letters and of course fiction pertaining to war, but of world literature; and I can also point you to the Tor edition with Haldeman's insightful notes.
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