The red badge of courage

The Red Badge of Courage is the earliest dated book I received via this summer’s AudioSYNC programme. An American classic, it was first published in 1895 so is even before the first segment of theBookcrossing Decade Challenge I have joined on Goodreads.

Young Henry Fleming has enlisted to fight in the America Civil War. Naïve to what awaits him, he flees during his first battle, finding himself among wounded men whom Henry sees as displaying their red badges of courage – their bloodstains. After being hit by one of his own side, Henry returns to his regiment where, believing his previous cowardice unnoticed, he seizes the flag when its bearer is killed. Suddenly brave beyond his experience, he leads through intense fighting, remaining unharmed.

Red Badge of Courage is written in an impersonal fashion which I thought both helped and hindered its impact. By not particularly detailing people’s or places’ names, it can be a novel of any low-tech war, as relevant now as then and all across the globe. However, devices such as continually referring to Henry as ‘the youth’ made it difficult for me to really invest in his story and I found myself frequently drifting away from listening. I am also not sure whether Crane’s message was meant to turn readers on to or away from war. The descriptions of fighting and casualties are powerful, but our protagonist redeems himself by rushing headlong into battle, glorifying the bloodshed in order to 'become a man'.

 [a:Stephen Crane|19879|Stephen Crane|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1197498223p2/19879.jpg]'s [b:The Red Badge of Courage|35220|The Red Badge of Courage|Stephen Crane|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327936136l/35220.SY75.jpg|2314709] is one of those books I missed reading in high school and has been sitting around the house for decades. I'd always thought of it as a sort of workman-like book intended for young audiences, in the vein of [a:Esther Forbes|99849|Esther Forbes|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1286395635p2/99849.jpg]'s [b:Johnny Tremain|816870|Johnny Tremain|Esther Forbes|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1529294679l/816870.SX50.jpg|2683165]. But a few weeks ago, I heard an interview with [a:Paul Auster|296961|Paul Auster|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1554662932p2/296961.jpg] in which he talked about his recent biography of Crane, [b:Burning Boy: The Life and Work of Stephen Crane|56347224|Burning Boy The Life and Work of Stephen Crane|Paul Auster|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1614682616l/56347224.SY75.jpg|87795591], in which he makes the case that Crane is the first American Modernist. What Auster said interested me enough that I read Badge and I'm glad I did. It's brilliant and the themes it deals with, war, cowardice, truth, and courage, it does well and with prose that makes you see why [a:Ernest Hemmingway|21176664|Ernest Hemmingway|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] cited Crane as an influence. I'm fifty years beyond the age I would have first read this book if schools at the time weren't too busy making us read books that would inspire us to stay away from heroine, but I enjoyed it and found it a challenging, mature, and interesting novel.

 The men dropped here and there like bundles. The captain of the youth's company had been killed in an early part of the action. His body lay stretched out in the position of a tired man resting, but upon his face there was an astonished and sorrowful look, as if he thought some friend had done him an ill turn. The babbling man was grazed by a shot that made the blood stream widely down his face. He clapped both hands to his head. "Oh!" he said, and ran. Another grunted suddenly as if he had been struck by a club in the stomach. He sat down and gazed ruefully. In his eyes there was mute, indefinite reproach. Farther up the line a man, standing behind a tree, had had his knee joint splintered by a ball. Immediately he had dropped his rifle and gripped the tree with both arms. And there he remained, clinging desperately and crying for assistance that he might withdraw his hold upon the tree.