 The Monster received mixed to positive reviews from critics . Before its publication , Crane 's friend Joseph Conrad wrote while responding to a partial draft : " the damned story has been haunting me .... I think it must be fine . " William Dean Howells , an early champion of Crane , proclaimed the novella to be " the greatest short story ever written by an American " . The Spectator concluded that The Monster alone would have cemented Crane 's literary reputation ; its reviewer wrote , " If Mr. Crane had never written anything else , he would have earned the right of remembrance by this story alone . " 
