The Red Badge of Courage

Stephen Crane

Jan 2012 · Ignatius Press

About this ebook

Stephen Crane described his novel of the American Civil War as a "psychological portrait of fear." Although he never experienced the horror of battle himself, Crane based his realistic narrative largely on stories told by Civil War veterans. While those accounts tended to focus on the external action of warfare, the young newspaper reporter aspired to illustrate the internal experience of the soldier. What does a man think and feel when he must kill or be killed? When in the chaos of battle will fear paralyze him or, worse, cause him to turn coward and run? In a sense, modern American fiction begins with Crane's masterful, impressionistic depiction of Private Henry Fleming under fire.

About the author

Stephen Crane authored novels, short stories, and poetry, but is best known for his realistic war fiction. Crane was a correspondent in the Greek-Turkish War and the Spanish American War, penning numerous articles, war reports and sketches. His most famous work, The Red Badge of Courage (1896), portrays the initial cowardice and later courage of a Union soldier in the Civil War. In addition to six novels, Crane wrote over a hundred short stories including "The Blue Hotel," "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky," and "The Open Boat." His first book of poetry was The Black Riders (1895), ironic verse in free form. Crane wrote 136 poems. Crane was born November 1, 1871, in Newark, New Jersey. After briefly attending Lafayette College and Syracuse University, he became a freelance journalist in New York City. He published his first novel, Maggie: Girl of the Streets, at his own expense because publishers found it controversial: told with irony and sympathy, it is a story of the slum girl driven to prostitution and then suicide. Crane died June 5, 1900, at age 28 from tuberculosis. Mary R. Reichardt is Professor of Catholic Studies at the University of Saint Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She received a Ph.D. in literature from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She has published eight books, including Catholic Women Writers, Exploring Catholic Literature, Encyclopedia of Catholic Literature, and Between Human and Divine: The Catholic Vision in Catholic Literature.