The red medal for bravery
The red Bravery Medal ( The Red Badge of Courage ) from the year 1895 is the most famous novel by Stephen Crane . The story tells of the experiences and feelings of the young soldier Henry Fleming before and during the Battle of Chancellorsville in the Civil War .
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Henry fears he will turn out to be a coward, and in fact he runs away in the first battle. The death of a badly wounded comrade puts him so ashamed that he goes back to the front. On the way, however, he is knocked down by a fleeing soldier and only found during the night by a corporal who is looking for strangers. The next day, Henry fell to the other extreme, storming his comrade forward euphorically, flag in hand, without paying attention to his own safety.
The red medal for bravery mentioned in the title comes from a scene from the book in which Henry sees a soldier who has been shot in the stomach. Parts of the tattered liver hang from the gunshot wound, making it look like an award has been attached, and at that moment Henry wants nothing more than "such a red medal of bravery".
German translations
The first German translation by Hans Umstätter appeared in 1954 under the title Das Blutmal. Novel published by Kessler Verlag, Mannheim. The following year came in the Forum publishing house, Frankfurt am Main and Vienna, under the title The flag of courage. Roman published a transmission by Milo Dor and Elisabeth Moltkau . Another translation, this time by Eduard Klein and Klaus Marschke, followed in 1962 under the title The Red Seal. [Stories] in the GDR - Volk und Welt publishing house , East Berlin . This transfer is used to this day (2006), meanwhile also under the title The Red Medal for Bravery ( Diogenes Verlag , Zurich 1985).
Film adaptations
The story was filmed in 1951 with Audie Murphy as the lead actor under the title The Red Medal for Bravery .
There is another remake made for US television with Richard Thomas (known as John-Boy Walton ) in the lead role. However, this version was not particularly successful.
