Stephen Crane, The Red Badge of Courage

Max Lester Loges (Lamar University)

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Ed. by Stephen E. Meats, Pittsburg State University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.2: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Nineteenth Century, 1783-1900.
Vol. editors: Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1895

Places

United States, New Jersey (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Naturalist
Novel

Resources

Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage (Red Badge) is a classic of American literature in its realistic depiction of war from the average soldier’s viewpoint. The story’s central character, Henry Fleming, is a young man who looks even younger than his chronological age and is given the descriptive title of “the youth”. He is the only child in a single parent family, his father having died sometime in the distant pass. Henry has a romantic picture of himself, imagining girls at his school in love with him and seeing himself as the hero in all his warlike dreams. He joins a regiment, the 304^th New York, being raised in his area and receives training along the banks of the Rappahannock River in Northern …

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4083 words

Citation: Loges, Max Lester. "The Red Badge of Courage". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 November 2015 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=7545, accessed 02 April 2025.]