Essay about Stephen Crane and The Civil War - 1780 Words

Stephen Crane and The Civil War While merely speculative, some biographers claim that Crane began The Red Badge of Courage in response to a challenge made by an acquaintance urging him to write a war novel that exceeded the quality of Emile Zola’s Le dà ©bà ¢cle. Crane, shortly thereafter, undertook the task and researched various articles in Century magazine on battles and leaders in the Civil War. In several personal letters he writes of the process he underwent in producing the narrative and discusses his opinions and feelings in reference to the quality of his work. While he generally concedes to the positive opinions surrounding its reviews, he makes a conscious effort to refute the notion that The Red Badge of Courage is†¦show more content†¦Appleton Company. Crane, while frustrated with the publishing process, realized the necessity of the book’s success. Experiencing a time of high stress and personal struggle, The Red Badge of Courage became the answer to his problems. In se veral letters he comments on the process of writing the novel. To an editor of Leslie’s Weekly he wrote [about November, 1895]: I decided that the nearer a writer gets to life the greater he becomes as an artist, and most of my prose writings have been toward the goal partially described by that misunderstood and abused word, realism †¦ I’ve been a free lance during most of the time I have been doing literary work, writing stories and articles about anything under heaven that seemed to possess interest, and selling them wherever I could. It was hopeless work. Of all human lots for a person of sensibility that of an obscure free lance in literature or journalism is, I think, the most discouraging. It was during this period that I wrote The Red Badge of Courage. It was an effort born of pain—despair, almost; and I believe that this made it a better piece of literature than it otherwise would have been. It seems a pity that art should be a child of pain, and yet I think it is. Of course we have fine writers who are prosperous and contented, but in my opinion their work would be greater i f this were not so. It lacks the sting it would have if under the spurShow MoreRelatedEssay about Stephen Crane and The Civil War895 Words   |  4 PagesStephen Crane and The Civil War One year after the publication of The Red Badge of Courage Crane released a continuation to the narrative in the form of a short story.   â€Å"The Veteran† characterizes an elderly Henry Fleming who recalls his first exposure to the experience of war.   Of the battle he remembers, â€Å"That was at Chancellorsville† (Crane 529-531).   While Crane never explicitly states the name of the battle in The Red Badge, the incidents mentioned in â€Å"The Veteran† indicate that the protagonistRead MoreInfluences on Stephen Cranes The Red Badge of Courage1445 Words   |  6 Pageshave on the world. Stephen Crane was greatly impacted by the time period in which he lived. One such influence was the popular literary style of Realism. Realism is the trend in which literature is based on the true nature of everyday occurrences devoid of any fantasy or romance. It is the raw depiction of what life and society is actually like. This literary style can be found in man y of Stephen Crane’s novels. Religion also had a significant impact on the way Stephen Crane wrote his novels.Read MoreEssay on A Brief Biography on Stephen Crane1345 Words   |  6 PagesStephen Crane was one of America’s most influential nineteenth century writers of realism. He was credited for being a novelist, short-story-writer, poet, and journalist. He was born on November 1, 1871, in Newark, New Jersey, as Stephen Townley Crane. Stephen was the youngest sibling of fourteen children (â€Å"Stephen Crane Biography†). His writing inspiration came from his family. His mother dedicated her life to social concerns, while his father was a Methodist minister. Two of Crane’s brothersRead More The Red Badge of Courage: A Coming of Age Novel Essay1652 Words   |  7 Pagesagainst his own in a civil war. Many of the experiences and feelings are the same. Have you ever wondered what it is like being a solider? Have you ever wondered about a soldiers fe elings as he faces battle for the first time? Stephen Crane shows us in The Red Badge of Courage, a character, Henry Fleming, an average young recruit in the Civil War. Fleming comes to realize that when it comes to war what he expects is different from what he must come to except. Stephen Crane was born shortly afterRead MoreThe Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane1809 Words   |  7 PagesRED BADGE OF COURAGE BY STEPHEN CRANE â€Å"The Red Badge of Courage† written by Stephen THE Crane was a great example of the works that the author penned. Stephen Crane was born in New Jersey on November 1, 1871. Crane was the youngest of fourteen children and attend a few different preparatory schools and colleges before deciding that he wanted to be a journalist and an author. He wrote first of things that had happened in New York City, but once he decided for sure that this was what he wantedRead MoreCritical Review of The Red Badge of Courage1013 Words   |  5 PagesStephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage, talks about a young boy becoming a man, through the ways of war. In the story Henry joins the war in search of adventure and courageousness. Henry comes face to face with new friends and foes in the story, along with looking death in the eye on more than one occasion. Stephen Crane does an excellent job in writing this book. After reading this story one general stated that â€Å"he recalle d fighting in the war with Crane† (Overview). On November 1, 1871 StephenRead MoreThe Civil War : America s Historical Consciousness1401 Words   |  6 Pagesone that stands out the most in the bloody history that is American war, is the Civil War; but what is the Civil War? Dr. James McPherson, in his article entitled â€Å"A Brief Overview of the American Civil War,† states that, â€Å"The Civil War is the central event in America s historical consciousness. While the Revolution of 1776-1783 created the United States, the Civil War of 1861-1865 determined what kind of nation it would be. The war resolved two fundamental questions left unresolved by the revolution:Read MoreA Critique Of Stephen Cranes Use Of Symbolism In Red Badge Of Courage And An Episode Of War1194 Words   |  5 Pages(A critique of Stephen Crane’s use of symbolism in Red Badge of Courage and An Episode of War) A tortured man who wrote beautifully tortured tales, Edgar Allan Poe, wrote in his one and only novel, â€Å"...words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality†. No writer creates reality better than Stephen Crane (1871 -1900). Crane is greatly commended for his naturalistic style of writing, which has the goal of writing the most realistic representation of events withRead More The Red Badge Of Courage -- Essay847 Words   |  4 Pages The Red Badge of Courage Time Period The Civil War officially started in 1861, yet problems between the North and the South date back as far as the early 1830s. The North was infuriated over slavery after a woman by the name of Harriet Beecher Stowe published her book Uncle Toms Cabin. Stowes book analyzed the life of a slave in an astonishing and realistic way. It caused many people to join the Union. Then the war began in July of 1861 when a Confederate army met with a Federal army at ManassenRead More Stephen Crane Essay666 Words   |  3 Pages amp;#9;Stephen Crane was one of the United States foremost naturalists in the late 1800’s (amp;quot;Stephenamp;quot; n.p.). He depicted the human mind in a way that few others have been capable of doing while examining his own beliefs. Crane was so dedicated to his beliefs that one should write about only what they personally experience that he lived in a self-imposed poverty for part of his life to spur on his writings (Colvert, 12:108). Crane’s contribution to American Literature is larger