Franklin Library: Stephen Crane: The Red Badge of Courage: Civil War

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Franklin Library: Stephen Crane: The Red Badge of Courage: Civil War:
$21.00

Franklin Library FULL leather edition of Stephen Crane\'s \"The Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil War,\" Illustrated by Roland Descombes, a Limited edition, one of the 100 GREATEST MASTERPIECES OF AMERICAN LITERATURE series, published in 1976. Bound in beautiful scarlet red cowhide leather, the book has matchingmoire silk end leaves, satin book marker, hubbed spine, gold gilding on three edges---in FINE condition---except for an attached book plate on second blank page. Stephen Crane lived from 1871 – 1900. Eighteen-year-old Private HENRY FLEMING, remembering his romantic reasons for enlisting as well as his mother\'s resulting protests, wonders whether he will remain brave in the face of fear, or turn and run. He is comforted by one of his friends from home, JIM CONKLIN, who admits that he would run from battle if his fellow soldiers also fled. During the regiment\'s first battle, Confederate soldiers charge, but are repelled. The enemy quickly regroups and attacks again, this time forcing some of the unprepared Union soldiers to flee. Fearing the battle is a lost cause, Henry deserts his regiment. It is not until after he reaches the rear of the army that he overhears a general announcing the Union\'s victory. Ashamed, Henry escapes into a nearby forest, where he discovers a decaying body in a peaceful clearing. In his distress, he hurriedly leaves the clearing and stumbles upon a group of injured men returning from battle. Exhausted, hungry, thirsty, and now wounded, Henry decides to return to his regiment regardless of his shame. The novel closes with the following passage: \"It rained. The procession of weary soldiers became a bedraggled train, despondent and muttering, marching with churning effort in a trough of liquid brown mud under a low, wretched sky. Yet the youth smiled, for he saw that the world was a world for him.\"