The red badge of courage

an episode of the American Civil War

118 pages

English language

Published April 13, 1995 by Wordsworth Editions.

ISBN:
978-1-85326-084-1
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OCLC Number:
43146550

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1 star (1 review)

The Red Badge of Courage is a war novel by American author Stephen Crane (1871–1900). Taking place during the American Civil War, the story is about a young private of the Union Army, Henry Fleming, who flees from the field of battle. Overcome with shame, he longs for a wound, a "red badge of courage," to counteract his cowardice. When his regiment once again faces the enemy, Henry acts as standard-bearer.

Although Crane was born after the war, and had not at the time experienced battle first-hand, the novel is known for its realism. He began writing what would become his second novel in 1893, using various contemporary and written accounts (such as those published previously by Century Magazine) as inspiration. It is believed that he based the fictional battle on that of Chancellorsville; he may also have interviewed veterans of the124th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment, commonly known as …

53 editions

Review of 'The Red Badge of Courage' on 'Goodreads'

1 star

Good grief! What a load of crap -
I only got through it b/c it was an audiobook - but it was slow torture. It was like the author had taken some writing course like IEW and was set to add all the 'dress-ups' - it was SO unnecessarily wordy. But by the same token, the same writing course should have added some new 'banned' words for this particular author: tremendous, ironical, and presently, were used continually, and the same phrases kept coming up: the corpes were twisted into tremendous shapes. Later: the corpses were twisted into fantastic shapes. And again: the corpses were twisted into impossible shapes. Do corpses ever just lie there?
Plus, I think the author may have made up words as he went along: anyone think catapultian is a real word?

Subjects

  • United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Fiction