Recently I’ve had the opportunity to re-read some classic novels. In April, I posted about Mary Webb’s Precious Bane and more recently I’ve had the opportunity to check out Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage.(first published 1895.)

Most of you are probably very familiar with what this book is about even if you haven’t read it yet. In summary, the story charts the progress of a young recruit, Henry Fleming, in the USA’s war between the states.

It’s probably worth noting that the civil war took place in the mid-nineteenth century in the United States (1861 – 1865) and is said to have resulted in more military deaths than US losses in the First and Second World Wars combined.

The Red Badge of Courage is essentially a character study of Henry Fleming, from his motivations for joining up to his intensely personal experience—both in terms of his inner reflections and ‘conversations’, as well as his outward actions—throughout his first battle.

I feel the story rang very true in terms of Henry’s adolescent motivations for joining up and character responses through the vicissitudes of the battle. It also rang true (within the context of my non-fiction reading on the topic of war and personal accounts if it) in terms of both the boredom and banality of the pre-battle period and Henry’s experience of battle itself as fragmented, confusing and muddled.

The story also captures the extraordinary physical, emotional and mental stress battle places on ordinary human beings, many of them teenage boys in this case. The Red Badge of Courage is definitely not a light read, but it’s not a large book either: the ‘weight’ of the read is in the material, which Crane himself described as a “psychological portrayal of fear.” (Source: Davis, 1998, pg 65, per Wikipedia.)

The writing is older style, i.e. “of its time”, but still accessible and it is certainly regarded as a preeminent American novel.