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In his decades-long career, the writer Paul Auster has turned his hand to poems, essays, plays, novels, translations, screenplays, memoirs\u2014and now biography. Burning Boy explores the life and work of Stephen Crane, whose short time on earth sputtered out at age 28 from tuberculosis. Like his biographer, Crane, too, spanned genres\u2014poetry, novels, short stories, war reporting, and semi-fictional newspaper \u201csketches\u201d\u2014striking it big in 1895 with The Red Badge of Courage, which was widely celebrated at the time and is still regarded as his best work. But in Auster\u2019s estimation, the rest of Crane\u2019s output (and there is a surprising amount of it) is sorely neglected, and the pleasure of Burning Boy lies in reading one of the 19th century\u2019s finest writers alongside one of today\u2019s. Paul Auster joins the podcast to talk about the task of restoring Stephen Crane to the American canon.

Go beyond the episode:

• Paul Auster\u2019s Burning Boy
• Read Steven G. Kellman\u2019s review, \u201cPoet of the Extreme\u201d
• Eager for a taste of Stephen Crane beyond the novels? We recommend The Black Riders and Other Lines and \u201cThe Open Boat\u201d

Tune in every week to catch interviews with the liveliest voices from literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek.

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