The Red Badge of Courage 'would become the godfather of all American
war novels, and an inspiration for writers as diverse as Ernest
Hemingway and JD Salinger ... the laconic realism of his prose, the
fierce investigation of the soldier's psyche, and his impressionistic
use of colour and detail convinced many readers that Crane was a veteran
turned novelist." - Robert McCrum
"Unquestionably the most realistic novel about the American Civil
War" -- Stanley Wertheim
"If there were in existence any books of a similar character, one
could start confidently by saying that it was the best of its kind. But
it has no fellows. It is a book outside of all classification." -
Harold Frederic
"A powerful, severe, and harshly comic portrayal of Irish immigrant
life in lower New York" -- Alfred Kazin (of Maggie: A Girl of the
Streets)
The Red Badge of Courage is set during the American Civil War and
follows a young private in the Union Army, Henry Fleming. It offers us a
penetrating insight into the young soldier's mind and examines his
psychological state as he grapples with the fear of being wounded, the
shame of running from battle, and the desire to redeem himself by
receiving "the red badge of courage"-a wound. In the space of a few
days, Henry Fleming gains decades of maturity. In the final battle,
unarmed and acting as a flag-bearer, he leads his men with true courage.
Although Stephen Crane was born after the Civil War and had never
experienced war at first-hand, most readers believed that his realistic
narrative was a veteran's account of the Civil War.
Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, Crane's naturalistic novel, tells
the story of Maggie, a virtuous, beautiful but impoverished girl living
in the Bowery district of Manhattan at the end of the nineteenth
century. She tries to make her way in the world as a worker in a garment
factory but is ultimately destroyed by the pressures of her world-an
abusive alcoholic mother, a lover who deserts her, and her family who
evicts her because of the gossip sparked by the unforgiving sexual mores
of the period. Her options diminishing, Maggie, in desperation, becomes
a streetwalker, and ultimately drowns herself. Since Crane's stark
realism shocked would-be publishers and readers, he initially published
Maggie: A Girl of the Streets under a pseudonym and at his own
expense. It is now regarded as an important contribution to American
literature.
This special edition collects Red Badge of Courage, Stephen
Crane's best-known work, and Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, his first
major work, regarded as risqué and overly realistic while he was alive.
Stephen Crane (1871 - 1900) was an American poet, novelist, and
short story writer. His short life was marked by the tragic deaths of
his parents and siblings, illness in childhood and later life, and by
remarkable literary creativity. He is remembered for his highly original
novels, The Red Badge of Courage and Maggie: A Girl of the Streets,
and for his frequently anthologized short stories which are among the
most skilfully crafted in American literature. He is recognized today as
one of the most innovative writers of his generation.
