The Red Badge of Courage

by Stephen Crane, Wendell Minor (Introduction)

Overview

Henry Fleming dreams of the thrill of battle and performing heroic deeds in the American Civil War. But his illusions are shattered when he comes face to face with the bloodshed and horrors of war. Now he's a raw recruit, Henry experiences both fear and self-doubt. Will war make Henry a coward or a hero? A vivid fictionalised account of the experiences of an ordinary innocent young soldier on the battlefields of the American Civil War, introduced by American writer, illustrator and historian, Wendell Minor.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780141327525
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	11/12/2009
Series:	Puffin Classics
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	91,156
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 6.90(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	10 - 13 Years

About the Author

Stephen Crane (1871-1900), American novelist, poet, and short-story writer, best known for his novels Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (1893) and The Red Badge of Courage (1895) and the short stories "The Open Boat," "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky," and "The Blue Hotel."

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Chapter 1
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Excerpted from "The Red Badge of Courage"
by .
Copyright © 2009 Stephen Crane.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Young Readers Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Preface     vii
A Note on the Text     ix
The Text of The Red Badge of Courage     1
Textual Appendix     105
Emendations     105
The Manuscript of The Red Badge of Courage: Uncanceled Passages and the Discarded Chapter XII     106
Backgrounds and Sources     115
Stephen Crane's Life and Times: An Introduction     117
[Crane's Life and Times]   Frederick C. Crews     117
Letters on Art and The Red Badge of Courage   Stephen Crane     123
The Massing of Forces-The Forging of Masses   Jay Martin     127
The Reorientation of American Culture in the 1890s   John Higham     139
The Red Badge of Courage as a Novel of the Civil War     152
[The Historical Setting of The Red Badge of Courage]   Charles J. LaRocca     152
"That Was at Chancellorsville": The Factual Framework of The Red Badge of Courage   Harold R. Hungerford     155
[Private Fleming's Initial Combat at Chancellorsville]   Perry Lentz     166
Chancellorsville, Afternoon of 2 May 1863     175
Three Sketches of Chancellorsville from Battles and Leaders of the Civil War     176
Photographs of Men of the 124th New York Volunteers     179
A Definition of the War Novel   Eric Solomon     181
Tolstoy's Sebastopol and The Red Badge of Courage   J. C. Levenson     187
Criticism     193
Crane and The Red Badge of Courage: A Guide to Criticism   Donald Pizer     195
Early Estimates     229
The Veteran   Stephen Crane     229
A Remarkable Book   George Wyndham     233
A Controversy in The Dial     241
The Green Stone of Unrest   Frank Norris     248
The Modern Critical Revival     251
Stephen Crane: A Revaluation   R. W. Stallman     251
The Red Badge of Courage as Myth and Symbol   John E. Hart     262
[Stephen Crane: Naturalist]   Charles C. Walcutt     271
Crime and Forgiveness: The Red Badge in Time of War   John Fraser     279
[Impressionism in The Red Badge of Courage]   James Nagel     291
The Red Badge of Courage: Text, Theme, and Form   Donald Pizer     306
The Spectacle of War in Crane's Revision of History   Amy Kaplan     319
On Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage   James M. Cox      327
Nobody seems to know where we go": Uncertainty, History and Irony in The Red Badge of Courage   John E. Curran Jr     343
Unreal War in The Red Badge of Courage   James B. Colvert     355
Stephen Crane: A Chronology     367
Selected Bibliography     373

What People are Saying About This

Joseph Conrad

as to 'masterpiece,' there is no doubt that The Red Badge of Courage is that, if only because of the marvellous accord of the vivid impressionistic description of action on that woodland battlefield and the imagined style of the analysis of ... the inward moral struggle going on in the breast of one individual - the Young Soldier.

Editorial Reviews

"The Red Badge Of Courage has long been considered the first great 'modern' novel of war by an American—the first novel of literary distinction to present war without heroics and this in a spirit of total irony and skepticism."—Alfred Kazin

From the Publisher

Novel of the American Civil War by Stephen Crane, published in 1895 and considered to be his masterwork for its perceptive depiction of warfare and of the psychological turmoil of the soldier. Crane had had no experience of war when he wrote the novel, which he based partly on a popular anthology, Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. The Red Badge of Courage has been called the first modern war novel because, uniquely for its time, it tells of the experience of war from the point of view of an ordinary soldier. Henry Fleming is eager to demonstrate his patriotism in a glorious battle, but when the slaughter starts, he is overwhelmed with fear and flees the battlefield. Ironically, he receives his "red badge of courage" when he is slightly wounded by being struck on the head by a deserter. He witnesses a friend's gruesome death and becomes enraged at the injustice of war. The courage of common soldiers and the agonies of death cure him of his romantic notions. He returns to his regiment and continues to fight on with true courage and without illusions.

The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature

"The Red Badge of Courage has long been one of the most popular novels of all time. It is a book children should read in order to make them aware of the real meanings of war so they may not be quite so eager to volunteer because it seems like a live video game. Kids today are somewhat unaware that in real war people who are killed or maimed do not rise up again as in a game. Today war may not be as glamorized as it once was because now we have all seen real killings and battles in the news. You can read this with your children and have intelligent discussions as to what stand they will take if it ever becomes necessary for them to make a choice. Excellent REAL READS!!!"

Real Travel Adventures - Bonnie Neely

Anthony Heald does a superb job performing Stephen Crane's 1895 book, which has been called the first modern novel about war. The novel tells the story of Henry Fleming, but at times scenes employ a montage of brief comments by fellow soldiers to suggest the feelings of the infantry as a whole. Heald is especially good at rendering these snippets and interjections without a loss of clarity. His energetic pacing and varied intonations bring out the drama and the immediacy of battle. Such an approach remains true to the realism of the book. People who have relegated this novel to the tenth grade should experience Heald's reading. He brings Crane to life. G.H. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

FEBRUARY 2009 - AudioFile