WRITING & PUBLISHING THE NOVEL

Quick Facts

• Crane began writing The Red Badge of Courage during the
spring of 1893, after having read numerous Civil War memoirs.

• In 1894, he sold the novel -- for ninety dollars -- to Irving
Bacheller's newspaper syndicate. Serialized in a shorter form in
early December, The Red Badge of Courage attracted significant
attention and praise from many newspaper readers.

• Later in December, D. Appleton & Company announced that
it would publish the full novel in hard covers.

• Contracting for ten percent royalties on sales of the book, Crane
sent the final draft to Appleton in the spring of 1895.

• The Red Badge of Courage was published on October 5, 1895.
The novel became a bestseller and made Crane an international
literary celebrity.

Origins  [top]

• During the spring of 1893, Crane read segments of the "Battles
and Leaders of the Civil War" series as published in Century
Magazine between 1884 and 1887.

• Crane expressed frustration over the veterans' remembrances
found in Century. Famously, he told his friend Corwin Linson: "I
wonder that some of those fellows don't tell how they felt in those
scraps. They spout enough of what they did, but they're as
emotionless as rocks."

Drafting the Novel  [top]

• In June 1893, Crane began penning the first draft of The Red
Badge of Courage. Setting out "to do a pot-boiler" to please
"the boarding-school element," he soon changed his approach:
"Well, I got interested in the thing in spite of myself, and I
couldn't, I couldn't. I had to do it my own way."

• Crane wrote and revised the novel through the spring of 1894,
at times reflecting on the language and plot with his artist friends
in New York City.

• Having completed the manuscript in April 1894, Crane set about
revising the work. Among the changes, he removed most
characters' names outside of dialogue, referring to Henry Fleming
as "the youth," and Jim Conklin as "the tall soldier." At this point,
the work was titled "Private Fleming/His various battles."

• In late April, Crane completed the revisions and renamed the
work "The Red Badge of Courage/An Episode of the American
Civil War." He then submitted the manuscript for consideration by
S. S. McClure, hoping to see it published in either McClure's
Magazine or as part of the McClure Newspaper Features
Syndicate.

The Red Badge in Serial Form  [top]

• When McClure failed to either accept or reject the work over a
period of several months, Crane at last withdrew the manuscript
and showed it to newspaperman Irving Bacheller. Bacheller bought
it for ninety dollars, and arranged to print a condensed version of
the work, in serial form, as part of his newspaper syndicate.

• Running about 50,000 words in length, the serialized version of
The Red Badge of Courage appeared in print between December
3 and December 8, 1894. The Philadelphia Press and six other
papers printed the installments.

• After the initial run, the syndicated version later appeared in such
newspapers as the San Francisco Examiner and the New York
Press.

Published Between Hard Covers  [top]

• In mid-December, 1894, Crane showed the serialized version of
The Red Badge of Courage to an agent of the publisher
D. Appleton & Company. The work was soon accepted for
publication in book form.

• Crane revised the full manuscript of the novel while traveling as
a reporter for Bacheller throughout the American West and Mexico.
In March 1895, he sent Appleton the final revisions from New Orleans.

• In June 1895, Crane signed the formal book contract with
Appleton, securing 10 percent royalties for The Red Badge of
Courage. Although the contract applied only to American printing
rights, Appleton subsequently secured the British copyright as well.

• On October 5, 1895, The Red Badge of Courage was published
to great acclaim. For information about its reception, see the Reception and Criticism page.