The Red Badge of Courage (ORIGINAL CONDENSED CLASSIC BOOKS Book 2)

Covers like these were not hard to find on a shelf: Watson's illustrated edition published over fifty years later. The strangeness comes from the delicate, flowing nature of the figures involved. Both effeminate and ill dressed for war, with delicate and ornate silk robes and nary a weapon between them as they sound instruments. If anything, they would seem the polar opposite of the gritty, realistic depictions of war The Red Badge of Courage was lauded for.

And regard as well the colour scheme: Rather, the delicate aesthetic of these ukiyo-e style drawing ameliorates the harsh edge of the brutality of war so lauded in this text. This strange choice is partially explained by the British infatuation at the time for all things Japanese.

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Initiated by America's contact with Japan in , the following years were marked by a rapid removal of the exclusionary practices Japan had engaged in to protect what it saw to be the integrity of its cultural heritage. Figure 10 shows an example of these cross-cultural experiences. The Heinemann edition serves a striking example of how even the most seemingly transient cultural infatuations can inflect a text that would continue to be discussed over a century later; preserving a strange melange of cultures that today could not seem farther apart.

Page from Stephen Crane's manuscript.

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Here, we can see the "raw" side of Crane's frantic edition process. Despite Crane living much like a mayfly, he produced multiple versions and revisions of his famous novel. Primarily scholars tend to focus on the following: Crane took the manuscript to him after several unsuccessful previous attempts at publishing. However, because this edition was serialised, a great deal of content had to be cut down, condensed or outright deleted in order to keep the magazines happy.

To this effect, the Press edition represents perhaps the least complete of all of the versions: At the conclusion, a comrade tells Fleming that a colonel has noticed his bravery.

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The most well-known version is arguably the Appleton edition: The time between this Appleton edition and the press appearance also gave time for Crane to edit and expand upon both his manuscript and the Press edition. As a result, the Appleton edition is notably more fleshed out and cohesive than the press edition. By making this motif more present, Crane changes significantly the role of nature in the book and the lessons that it is meant to impart.

With this Crane adds a final shock of war: For reference, look to the included Figure Crane clearly intended to, at an earlier point, keep the names of the characters overt in the text. And while the novel was well known for its portrayals of dialect and naturalistic speech, in this earlier version this persisted throughout, rather than just in spoken dialogue.

Crane substitutes these for clearer, more standardised English: If nothing else, having a manuscript form of the novel gives us access to the concessions that Crane had to make, as well as the thought process; albeit, in a smudged, handwritten form, behind the conception of his novel. That said, the issue then comes down to what edition to prioritise. Who can say what Crane truly intended for the story? Realistically, without the author present, there is simply no way to know: I talk, of course, about editors.

Even today editors vigorously pursue new approaches. In terms of textual purity, the fact that the 'Authoritative text' is edited by four separate people should give even the most bull-headed of critics pause.

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Given what we have already seen: Firstly, just like the two examples provided by University of Victoria special collections, the text is the Appleton edition, nearly unchanged. Further, as they do at least acknowledge that the manuscript edition exists, the uncancelled passages, including Chapter Twelve are included: Indeed, in this passage they state outright that "this material clearly has no place in the text" Naturally, such a conservative approach has its fair share of detractors.

Binder, in creating his edition three years later, takes an entirely different approach. He shows this in the primacy he gives the manuscript in this edition: Chapter Twelve is re-added into the narrative, now flowing naturally with the text. The final words present in the Appleton edition: Taking such an avant-garde approach to edition; and crucially, wearing your editorial stance on your sleeve, is very uncommon in even Crane scholarship, let alone scholarship in general. Neither of the Special Collections text could mention the manuscript, as it was not discovered at their time of publication, but they still enshrine an altered version of the text: While with The Red Badge of Courage this battle continues in the open, with arguments back and forth between warring sides, think of how many other texts go on without this record.

With decisions being made in the dark about what the public finally receives, and what is thought of as the definitive version of the text afterwards.

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Illustration of Singing by the Plum Garden. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. A facsimile reproduction of the New York press appearance of December 9, , with an introd. The Red Badge of Courage: Revised by Donald Pizer, W. Edited by Henry Binder, W. The Red Badge of Courage. Illustrated by Aldren A. Watson, Peter Pauper Press, A Life of Fire. Harvard University Press, A photo of Stephen Crane, taken in Washington D. Yet this adaptation oversimplifies Crane's portrayal of Fleming, ignoring or de-emphasizing the character's other failings: In Crane's book, Fleming is haunted by his desertion of the dying "tattered man"; in Vansant's version, Fleming forgets him.

Though Crane's book is a landmark in realism, the author's symbolic writing turned Fleming's battlefield into a mythic realm. Vansant's conventionally realistic artwork, on the other hand, is more prosaic than Crane's brilliantly descriptive captions. This adaptation faithfully introduces the plot, characters and primary themes of Red Badge to readers unfamiliar with the original book without penetrating the full depths of Crane's masterwork.

Like the Carroll volume above, this edition of the seasoned veteran provides a new twist. Crane's Badge was originally serialized in the New York Press in , a year before the story was published in novel form. This volume offers both the slightly different serial version and the finished work. Though every library no doubt has numerous copies of Red Badge, academic and public libraries supporting American literature curricula should pop for this one, too, especially at the price.

Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc. See all Editorial Reviews. Product details File Size: February 7, Sold by: Is this feature helpful? Thank you for your feedback. Share your thoughts with other customers. Write a customer review. See all customer images. Showing of reviews. Top Reviews Most recent Top Reviews. There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later. Kindle Edition Verified Purchase. It took me a while to get into the story because I had been reading so many modern novels lately, but once I did, it became a glorious and horrific wonder for my imagination.

The story spelled out the inner workings of a mind on the battlefield in ways I haven't encountered in other novels. After chapter 3 I was captivated! I fully and heartily recommend pressing through if the beginning seems a bit stilted to you. The ending left this reader satisfied, not as if there's some happily ever after, but because there is some gleaming of hope even in the bitter horrors of combat.

Crane captures the full gamut quite well. An extraordinary book for its time, Stephen Crane describes the intimate details and the innermost thoughts of a newly minted soldier on the front lines of a Civil War battlefield. With bullets whizzing about him, and thick smoke and corpses as a backdrop, Henry flees his first encounter with battle. As he wanders about in the aftermath, he struggles with his shame and seeks rationalizations for his cowardice. Was he not the wiser for having fled a battle that was lost? Does not an animal flee a predator when sensing the predator is a superior force?

But then Henry discovers that his battalion actually won the battle, and he returns to it after suffering a rather ignominious wound. But his comrades assume he was shot in the head and consider him a hero. Henry is transformed and goes on to fight courageously, earning the admiration of his comrades. I find Crane's writing choppy and stilted. But it is perhaps this writing style that adds a sense of realism to his novel. The young Crane, who never saw battle and was writing more than a decade after the end of the Civil War, displays an astonishing talent for introspection. He creates with Henry Fleming a timeless protagonist in a coming of age novel that remains an American classic.

What bad is there to say about him? Sure, he never went to war - but that does not detract from the visceral experience one has in reading this work. Plus, Crane had a really wacky way of phrasing sentences which is inescapably modern.

1. Memes of Loss and Devotion;
2. On the neatness of books, and why they're anything but.;
3. ;

I read this novel over and over again. In this edition, it is pages long. There is also Frank Norris' hilarious send-up of Stephen Crane's style and some other English-professor commentary. This is indispensable reading for anyone trying to understand war. This novel is the fictionalized story of a young man who enlists in the Federal Army in the midst of the American Civil War The boys illusions about himself and warfare are shattered during his first battle as he runs from battle in fear for his life.

The story recounts his struggle to come to grips with himself in order to overcoming his fears and redeem himself through heroic actions during a subsequent battle. Despite the fact the author never experienced combat I believe that the battle descriptions serve as a bench marks for all war novels. This book was a exceptional read, a true example of the great "Classic American Novel", truly one of the top novels ever written. I read it once before, while in high school, as part of an assignment designed to teach students about great novels.

I recall enjoying the experience, but by no measure did I really understand how remarkable, how eloquent a testemant to letters and reading this book trully stands. I think my improved understanding of this book comes from my many years of life experiences, includiing my years as a warrior, coupled by the many years of reading I've completed. The author's beautifule prose, the narrative, the pacing of the story, the author's ability to capture the humanity of characters, all of these factors and more have created this masterpiece. Almost everyone would enjoy reading this book!