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A review by kevin_shepherd
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
4.0
“We saw the lightning and that was the guns and then we heard the thunder and that was the big guns; and then we heard the rain falling and that was the blood falling; and when we came to get in the crops, it was dead men that we reaped.” -Harriet Tubman
Glass half full - Stephen Crane captures the chaos of armed conflict so deftly that you will swear he was himself a combat veteran. He was not.
Glass half empty - Never once do Crane’s characters broach the topic of slavery. Perhaps Crane’s intent was to write about war as a generic experience, in which case the American Civil War is merely a backdrop. Or maybe he was of the opinion that succession, not slavery, was the true catalyst of this calamity (see also: Walt Whitman and Margaret Mitchell). Whatever the reason, Crane’s missed opportunity, unintentional as it may be, feels falsely narrative and historically revisionist.
Glass half full - Stephen Crane captures the chaos of armed conflict so deftly that you will swear he was himself a combat veteran. He was not.
Glass half empty - Never once do Crane’s characters broach the topic of slavery. Perhaps Crane’s intent was to write about war as a generic experience, in which case the American Civil War is merely a backdrop. Or maybe he was of the opinion that succession, not slavery, was the true catalyst of this calamity (see also: Walt Whitman and Margaret Mitchell). Whatever the reason, Crane’s missed opportunity, unintentional as it may be, feels falsely narrative and historically revisionist.