The Red Badge of Courage

Commonly considered Stephen Crane's greatest accomplishment, The Red Badge of Courage (1895) ranks among the foremost literary achievements of the modern era. When its publication was announced in Publisher's Weekly on 5 October 1895, Crane was largely unknown. Although his volume of poetry published earlier that year, The Black Riders, had made some waves in literary circles, it struck most readers as quirky and cryptic. The gritty social realism of his first novel Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (1893) had earned praise from literati such as Hamlin Garland and W. D. Howells, but Crane probably gave away more copies than were actually sold. (The story is told that Crane, in a desperate advertising scheme, paid men to ride the Manhattan El train and conspicuously read copies of Maggie.) When Crane signed a contract with D. Appleton and Co. to publish Red Badge, he was not well-known enough to command an advance, and agreed to a flat 10 per cent royalty on the retail price of all copies sold. Published in the autumn of 1895, Red Badge went through two editions before the end of the year. By March of 1896 the novel was in eighth place on the international booksellers' list and had gone through fourteen printings; remarkably enough, Red Badge has never been out of print. Unfortunately, unremunerative contracts with publishers and a general lack of good business sense kept Crane insolvent for much of his life. But with the publication of Red Badge, Crane achieved almost overnight celebrity.

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The Red Badge of Courage was written by Stephen Crane, published in 1895. The inspiring book contains a series of drastic and emotional events in a young soldier’s life during the Civil War. It commences with Henry Fleming’s ambitious yet slightly hasty decision to enlist in the Union regiment, against his sentimental mother’s desires. The book summarizes the Civil War and the psychological consequences on Henry’s young mind. His courage and sparse cowardliness is displayed throughout the book when his young mind drew the choice to become part of the military and his intensely fought and last battle. These characteristics continued until the moment Henry’s mind closed around the concept of victory and he seized the colored flag and raised it to the smoke infested sky.--Submitted by Anonymous

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