The Red Badge of Courage and Selected Short Fiction (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)
By Stephen Crane and Richard Fusco
3.5/5
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About this ebook
- New introductions commissioned from today's top writers and scholars
- Biographies of the authors
- Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events
- Footnotes and endnotes
- Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work
- Comments by other famous authors
- Study questions to challenge the reader's viewpoints and expectations
- Bibliographies for further reading
- Indices & Glossaries, when appropriate
Unbelievable as it may seem, Stephen Crane had never been a member of any army nor had taken part in any battle when he wrote The Red Badge of Courage. But upon its publication in 1895, when Crane was only twenty-four, Red Badge was heralded as a new kind of war novel, marked by astonishing insight into the true psychology of men under fire. Along with the seminal short stories included in this volume—“The Open Boat,” “The Veteran,” and “The Men in the Storm”—The Red Badge of Courage unleashed Crane’s deeply influential impressionistic style.
Richard Fusco has been an Assistant Professor of English at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia since 1997. A specialist in nineteenth-century American literature and in short-story narrative theory, he has published on a variety of American, British, and Continental literary figures.
Stephen Crane
Stephen Crane (1871-1900) was an American poet and author. Along with his literary work, Crane was a journalist, working as a war correspondent in both Cuba and Greece. Though he lived a short life, passing away due to illness at age twenty-eight, Crane’s literary work was both prolific and highly celebrated. Credited to creating one of the earliest examples of American Naturalism, Crane wrote many Realist works and decorated his prose and poetry with intricate and vivid detail.
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Reviews for The Red Badge of Courage and Selected Short Fiction (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)
90 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Classics. How do you approach them? In the context of the time it was written, in the context of the time in which it was popular, in the context of the time it is being read, in the context of being forced to read it as part of 7th Grade literature? (Well, probably not that last.) Trying to cover all is a fool’s game, so I tend to focus on the enjoyment I am getting from reading a classic the second I am reading it. (When push comes to shove, how is any other approach anything more than “being forced to read it as part of 7th Grade literature”?)And, in that context, The Red Badge of Courage suffers. Not because it is not a good book and a good read. But because the virgin ground it originally plowed has now been almost farmed to death. In its time, this book took the subject on in this way for the first time and it had an immediate impact. And that impact included innumerable books that have gone on to further explore humans and their personal reactions to war and battle. This book opened the door, and everyone else piled into the room. And for the reader that has spent any time in that dog pile, the impact of this book is lessened.So what do we wind up with? A good book about the civil war that gives us a realistic representation of the foot soldiers’ war, and a compelling story of a young man (boy) facing his limitations and growing past them. Is this bad? No – it is, in fact, worth the time. Does it distract from the power of this book that others have taken what it achieved and done more? Unfortunately, yes. So we wind up with a decent introduction to the civil war and to books on wars in general. But, the impact has been lost over time.(A coda. This edition includes three short stories – including one which takes up the story of Courage’s protagonist when he is an old man – which are meant to add to the enjoyment and understanding of the writing. It does nothing but distract, and the stories do not feel particular powerful in this context. Add the point that this edition is heavy with foot- and endnotes describing the most easily understood concepts [after all, we must make sure that the 7th grader is told every little nuance] and, while I recommend anyone read the book, I also recommend that stay as far away as possible from this edition.)
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Reading classics puts modern day concerns into perspective quite nicely. For example the hue and cry over television violence. Sure, motion pictures provide a powerful medium and create an indelible memory upon impressionable youngsters, no doubt about it. Yet reading this book, the visions Stephen Crane describes so vividly in word, will make a lasting impression with me. Our society has so removed violence - a good thing - that any aggression is seen as a horror - occasionally a bad thing. From the dawn of man and his fight for survival, violence has been a necessity and product of the environment and his will to live. Mr. Crane's short story of a young enlistee is filled with such detail in so little space, it was truly breathtaking. I literally found myself reading a page before noticing I was reading with bated breath. Nary a page went by where he wasn't enticing all the sense to understand the sensations of a raging battlefield. The "hurry-up-and-wait" way of the military. The anticipatory build up to what becomes a surprise despite waiting for the event. Mr. Crane personifies everything that isn't human. Not so distant clumps of forest, obscured by gun smoke and morning fog become living foes; housing unseen Rebels, only their gross movements and gun barrel flares give life to them like some fantasy world forest waiting to devour lost travelers. Lines of men become singularly animal-like as they snake across the horizon; enemy platoons become grey, black, or brown silhouettes ominously moving to and fro in the hazy distance, individually they would be less daunting foe than they are a blurred together mass.The Barnes & Noble Classic's edition also contains some short stories. "The Veteran" follows-up the life of Henry Fleming. While reading The Red Badge, I waited for the untimely death of the hero; triumphantly it never came to fruition and ended with optimism. "The Veteran" concludes his life succinctly, proving him to remain as bravely as he became during the two days of the original story.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Yes, this is a war novel. The Red Badge of Courage describes Henry Fleming, a teenage soldier, as he first encounters the red monster god that is war. He is first tested and found wanting, then proves himself. The depiction of the battles is brilliantly done; Crane's bold use of metaphor and imagery, electric. Yet, while the larger setting is The Civil War, more particularly the battle fought at Chancellorsville, Va, the battle of greater importance is Henry's internal one as he develops from a callow, at times craven youth beset with self doubt to a man cognizant of his range of strengths and weaknesses.
Having taught the novel to high school sophomores, it has been my experience that young students become bogged down with Henry's persistent self-analysis. This amazes me since Henry's struggles so perfectly mirror their own, minus the actual battle. Here I am just musing...how might the book be taught in a way that makes the most of this aspect?
Crane's descriptive powers are famously powerful as is his sophisticated presentation of the young man's psyche. In Henry he creates a character who is at once despicable and noble, one we ultimately see as ourselves.
Question: Is the novel "anti-war." My father, a high ranking military officer and Civil War historian, has never read it as such. He sees it as a accurate description of war and the typical emotional struggles soldiers face. However, many people think it is so. I am not sure. Is Shakepeare's Henry V anti-war? The depictions of the carnage are horrifically graphic. The thoughts and actions of the characters at times deplorable. But, war is hell. Does depicting it as such make a novel anti-war? Or is it how Henry is described as succumbing to a mob mentality becoming part of the killing machine that makes people think so. This is certainly something to think about. My inclination is to say it is not.