A Perfect Civil War novel- Red Badge of Courage
Throughout the course of human literature new styles and eras rise and fall due to the fickleness and uncertainty of the public. Eventually a new book comes along, the perfect book, the book that bridges the gap between two literary eras and starts a new literary movement all in one publication. At the end of the nineteenth century a young man named Stephen Crane announced the publication of his new book, The Red Badge of Courage. Crane's success began almost over night, and more completely than any other book had done for many years, had taken the reading public by storm. Critics often criticized Crane for his lifestyle and mysterious appearance; many wonder what inspired this man to write this perfect Civil War novel. An author's inspiration can come from the widest array of things in the world, but Crane's were not anything new. Crane utilized what most authors would, he collected his experiences from his childhood and home life, he used the popular literary influences of the time period, and he gathered his experiences from college. These influences are apparent throughout the novel, between Crane's riveting battle descriptions and picturesque descriptions of nature it is evident that author's do include their own lives into t
A quarter-century after Crane's death, Joseph Conrad remembered that the appearance of Red Badge had been "one of the most enduring memories of my literary life." Conrad called Crane "non-comparable" as an artist, and makes a sorrowful notice. Conrad notes a marked parallel with that of Red Badge's "tattered soldier" and says "it was his fate, too, to fall early in the fray." Conrad makes reference to Crane's ostracized public life and his eventual move to England. By using his experiences at home, in school, and the use of literary movements of the time, Crane was able to write his book. Crane did what most strived to do; he wrote the perfect Civil War novel and didn't step one foot on a battlefield. Red Badge of Courage has still yet to go out of print and has been through over twenty different editions. The popularity of Red Badge of Courage has never dwindled since its publication in 1895. Commonly considered Stephen Crane's greatest accomplishment, Red Badge ranks among the foremost literary achievements of the modern era. Throughout the story Crane employs many different meanings and lessons. At one point in the novel the Narrator says, "He had performed his mistakes in the dark, so he was still a man." This theory of heroism and cowardice is rampant in the story, and in the end we learn that heroism and cowardice go hand in hand, and you can't be heroic without being a coward. One piece of information that is very fascinating is that while Crane's early critics were unable to identify the battle that takes place, many today and unanimously agreed that it is in fact the Battle of Chancellorsville, and subsequent scholarly inquiry has backed this up. Red Badge of Courage was published over one-hundred years ago and is still being taught, admired, and read throughout the world. Once you find the formula for the perfect novel, not even time can change it. At the end of every era there is a pivotal piece of work that makes the transition into the next era. The Red Badge of Courage is the pivotal American piece of literature that divides the nineteenth and twentieth centuries yet at the same times bridges the gap between the eras. The Red Badge of Courage was published in 1895, just thirty years after the Civil War. Much conflict and duress still lay throughout the country and Stephen Crane took all that in and wrote a book about it. An early English critic, Sydney Brooks, was totally convinced by Crane's depictions of combat, and assumed that Crane had fought in the Civil War. If Red Badge of Courage were altogether a work of the imagination, unbased on personal experience, its realism would be nothing short of a miracle said Brooks. Crane was able to create vivid battle scenes from everything to the accur
Some common words found in the essay are:
Red Badge, Brooks Crane, Civil War, Badge Courage, Veritism Crane, Crane's Crane, Red Badge's, , Henry Fleming's, Tribune York, red badge, red badge courage, badge courage, civil war, football field, crane able, war novel, stephen crane, vivid descriptions, battle scenes, donald gibson, civil war novel, badge courage published, perfect civil war, vivid battle scenes,
Approximate Word count = 1842
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
