The Red Badge of Courage and the Blue Hotel: the singular love of Stephen CraneStephen Crane has firmly anchored himself in the canon of American romanticism with the success of works such as The Red Badge of Courage and “The Blue Hotel”. His writings served to plumb the fundamental depths of the genre while enumerating themes essential to the movement's aesthetic. Topics such as sincere respect for the beauty and ferocity of nature, general exaltation of emotion over reason and senses over intellect, self-examination of personality and its moods and possibilities mental, a preoccupation with genius and the heroic archetype in general, a focus on inner passions and struggles, and an emphasis on the imagination as a gateway to transcendence, as well as a predilection for the exotic, the distant, the mysterious and popular culture are all characteristic of his stories. However, the more traditionally "romantic" facets of his artifice are most fully manifested in a series of private correspondences between him and a certain upper-class girl named Nellie Crouse. It is these letters that serve to illustrate Crane's writing prowess to the extent that they transcend traditional romantic genre fiction. Through these letters, which constitute an informed testimony to Crane's marked talent as a writer, we begin to examine Crane in the context of his own existence, free of the fictional trappings of his most acclaimed achievements. letters to Mrs. Crouse is the tone of his amorous entreaties. He gracefully plays off his burgeoning fame and growing success as a published artist with good-natured self-deprecation and a propensity to undermine his own efforts. The series of letters begins with a carefully constructed communiqué, designed to provoke a sympathetic response from Ms. Crouse. Using "inner" reactions to his celebrity to impress, he relies on an aura of exotic settings and light-hearted humor to earn a response. Having managed to obtain a seemingly satisfactory response, he eagerly raises the temperature of the correspondence in his second letter. Without compromising his subsequent relationship with Mrs. Crouse, his remarks take on a more acute level of intimacy, with Crane even going so far as to volunteer to accept her literary advice. The third letter opens up to the heart of the correspondence on Crane's side, as he begins in earnest trying to get Mrs..