红色英勇勋章

1、红色英勇勋章是美国作家史蒂芬·克莱恩(18711900)的一部战争小说。故事情节发生在美国内战时期，一名叫亨利·弗莱明的联盟士兵逃离了战场。后来他战胜了怯懦，渴望负伤即获得红色英勇勋章来洗刷自己的耻辱。当他的团再次面对敌人时，他成为了旗手The Red Badge of Courage is a war novel by American author Stephen Crane (18711900). Taking place during the American Civil War, the story is about a young private of the

2、Union Army, Henry Fleming, who flees from the field of battle. Overcome with shame, he longs for a wound, a "red badge of courage," to counteract his cowardice. When his regiment once again faces the enemy, Henry acts as standard-bearer.小说因其风格独特而著名，并包括了战斗现实结构、对颜色意境的反复使用和讽刺的语调。与传统战争叙述不同，克莱恩

3、的故事反映了主人翁的内心旅程一个逃离战场的士兵而不是他身处的外部战场。同样值得注意的是被克莱恩称之为“对恐惧的心理描述”，1小说的托寓与象征手法的质量常被评论家争执不休。故事的许多主题与成熟、英雄主义、懦弱、自然的冷漠有关。The novel is known for its distinctive style, which includes realistic battle sequences as well as the repeated use of color imagery, and ironic tone. Separating itself from a traditional

4、war narrative, Crane's story reflects the inner experience of its protagonist (a soldier fleeing from combat) rather than the external world around him. Also notable for its use of what Crane called a "psychological portrayal of fear",1 the novel's allegorical and symbolic qualitie

5、s are often debated by critics. Several of the themes that the story explores are maturation, heroism, cowardice, and the indifference of nature故事梗概编辑一个冷天里，虚构的纽约304步兵团驻扎在河边，等候战斗命令。18岁的列兵亨利·弗莱明回忆起他参军时浪漫的冲动，以及他母亲的反对。他不禁开始怀疑自己，到底是要与敌人面对面交火，还是一走了之。战友吉姆·康克林安慰他，并承认如果所有人逃跑，他自己也会跟着跑。在步兵团的第一次交火中，南部

6、邦联军首先冲锋，但是被打了回去。敌人很快整合，再次进攻，并迫使一些措不及防的联邦士兵自乱阵脚，临阵脱逃。亨利担心会输掉战斗，便选择了走为上。直到他逃到了部队后面时才听见将军宣布联邦军获胜的消息。他绝望地称自己与众不同，承认自己不可能成为英雄，只是的儒弱的潜鸟。那些荣耀的画面不过些可怜的事情。他发自内心地抱怨着，一步一步挪离这个地方。 红色英勇勋章，第11章18亨利感到十分羞愧，逃到了旁边的森林里。在一片小空地里，他发现了一具腐烂中的死尸。亨利受到惊吓，逃离小空地，却撞入了一群撤离战场的伤员中。他们中有一名“衣衫褴褛的士兵”，后者询问亨利伤在哪里。亨利对此只能回避。吉姆·康克林也在其中

7、，由于侧身中弹，失血过多，吉姆变得神智不清。吉姆极力反抗朋友的帮助，并最终因伤势过重去世。倍感愤怒无助的亨利冲出了伤兵群，却又撞进了另一个撤离部队。慌乱中，一个士兵用枪托猛击亨利的头部，将其击伤。负伤的亨利现在十分疲倦、饥渴、他决定硬着头皮回到自己的部队里去。当他到达营地时，其他士兵误认为他头上的伤是战场枪弹所造成的。士兵照顾亨利，包扎了他的伤口。第二天清晨，亨利第三次加入战斗。步兵团遇到了一小股邦联军，而亨利英勇作战，证明了自己是个合格的士兵。然而亨利自我安慰，告诉自己之前的儒弱没有被人发现，“他的过错犯在暗中，所以他依然是个好汉。”19在此之后，亨利与朋友一道寻找溪水，却意外地从司令官那里

8、得知他所在的步兵团名声狼藉。司令官不经意地提出将304团牺牲掉，因为他们不过是“赶驴的”、“翻土的”。由于没有其它部队可用，将军对此表示许可。在小说最后的战斗中， 护旗士官中弹，亨利意外地成为了旗手。有一线邦联军躲在了围栏背后，围栏被树林遮掩，不在步兵团的射程范围之内。如果他们留下，就不得不面对难堪的攻击；如果他们撤走，就会颜面尽失。司令官下令冲锋。亨利在无武装的情况下领导部队进攻，自己却奇迹般地毫发无损。绝大多数邦联士兵在步兵团到来之前逃逸，另有四名被俘虏。小说的结尾如下:下雨了。士兵们疲惫不堪，形成了一个破败的列队，沮丧着、埋怨着。队伍在低沉恶劣的天色下，行进如搅拌槽液里棕色的泥浆。尽管许

9、多人发现世界不过是誓言和手杖的组合而已，但年轻人笑了，因为他看到这是他的世界。他成功地摆脱战争的红热病，闷热的噩梦已经是过去。在燥热而痛苦的战争中，他是一个泡了水、出了汗的动物。现在，他转身回头，却如情人一般看着宁静的天空，新鲜的草原，凉爽的小溪一个温柔而永恒的平静。一缕金色阳光劈开铅色的乌云，射到了河的另一边。20Plot summaryeditOn a cold day the fictional 304th New York Regiment awaits battle beside a river. Eighteen-year-old Private Henry Fleming, re

10、membering 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 f

11、led. 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

12、the rear of the army that he overhears a general announcing the Union's victory.In despair, he declared that he was not like those others. He now conceded it to be impossible that he should ever become a hero. He was a craven loon. Those pictures of glory were piteous things. He groaned from his

13、 heart and went staggering off.The Red Badge of Courage, Chapter eleven18Ashamed, 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. One membe

14、r of the group, a "tattered soldier", asks Henry where he is wounded, but the youth dodges the question. Among the group is Jim Conklin, who has been shot in the side and is suffering delirium from blood-loss. Jim eventually dies of his injury, defiantly resisting aid from his friend, and

15、an enraged and helpless Henry runs from the wounded soldiers. He next joins a retreating column that is in disarray. In the ensuing panic, a man hits Henry on the head with his rifle, wounding him. Exhausted, hungry, thirsty, and now wounded, Henry decides to return to his regiment regardless of his

16、 shame. When he arrives at camp, the other soldiers believe his injury resulted from a grazing bullet during battle. The other men care for the youth, dressing his wound.The next morning Henry goes into battle for the third time. His regiment encounters a small group of Confederates, and in the ensu

17、ing fight Henry proves to be a capable soldier, comforted by the belief that his previous cowardice had not been noticed, as he "had performed his mistakes in the dark, so he was still a man".19 Afterward, while looking for a stream from which to obtain water with a friend, he discovers fr

18、om the commanding officer that his regiment has a lackluster reputation. The officer speaks casually about sacrificing the 304th because they are nothing more than "mule drivers" and "mud diggers." With no other regiments to spare, the general orders his men forward.In the final

19、battle, Henry acts as the flag-bearer after the color sergeant falls. A line of Confederates hidden behind a fence beyond a clearing shoots with impunity at Henry's regiment, which is ill-covered in the tree-line. Facing withering fire if they stay and disgrace if they retreat, the officers orde

20、r a charge. Unarmed, Henry leads the men while entirely escaping injury. Most of the Confederates run before the regiment arrives, and four of the remaining men are taken prisoner. The novel closes with the following passage:It rained. The procession of weary soldiers became a bedraggled train, desp

21、ondent 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, though many discovered it to be made of oaths and walking sticks. He had rid himself of the red sickness of battle. The

22、sultry nightmare was in the past. He had been an animal blistered and sweating in the heat and pain of war. He turned now with a lover's thirst to images of tranquil skies, fresh meadows, cool brooks, an existence of soft and eternal peace.风格与体裁编辑河的两岸呈琥珀色，在部队的脚边潺潺流过；到了晚上，河水穿上了忧伤的黑色。抬头望过，在远处低矮的山腰

23、下，敌我阵营交火所发出的眼状红光依稀可见。 红色英勇勋章，第一章33红色英勇勋章风格独特，常被视为自然主义、现实主义、印象主义或是三者的混合。34小说局限于第三人称视角，反应了年轻战士亨利·弗莱明从战场逃走后的内心经历，而不是外部世界的物理战争。红色英勇勋章的特色在于鲜活的描述与富有节律的散文体，这些都帮助作者制造故事的悬念。35评论家特别指出小说中反复出现的字面或寓意色彩，这证明了小说使用了印象主义的元素。小说提到了蓝色与灰色制服，黄色与橙色阳光，绿色的树林，士兵的脸因愤怒或义勇变红，因死亡而变灰。7克莱恩使用动物形象来评说人、自然、或是战争自己。例如，小说开始时，部队被描绘成一个

24、有生实体，“在山坡上伸展，休息着。”36小说的背景设在一系列战场上，红色英勇勋章却没有使用众南北战争小说的传统描述手法。小说着重于主角的内心斗争，而不是战争本身。9克莱恩的小说常常让读者混淆，分不清小说到底是不是反战的。37为了回避州与州之间政治、军事、地理的细节冲突，小说的叙述脱离了历史框架。38值得注意的是，小说没有交代时间、战斗名称，这些省略有效地将读者的注意力从历史的框架上转移到战场的心理冲突中。39作者在信件中曾经暗指，自己希望通过“描绘心理恐惧”来书写战争。1小说出版三十年后，作家约瑟夫·康拉德（Joseph Conrad）认同小说的主要矛盾来自内心，而不是外部斗争，弗莱

25、明“站在未知面前。他试图使用理性来证明自己不会逃离战场。弗莱明在尚无经验的部队中找不到支持。他得独自解决勇敢这一难题。”36克莱恩对心理的现实描写在读者中引起了共鸣；一个当时的评论家写给“纽约出版社”，称：“有时描述过于生动，以至于令人喘不过气来。读者倍感身临其境，当爱国主义被溶解成元素，我们只能看到一帮汉子盲目地、怪诞地向浓烟中射击着。这是战争的新视点。”2有时候他对伤员们十分嫉妒。他觉得那些人的肢体虽然被扯开，但却以奇怪的方式享受着快乐。他期望自己也可以有一道伤疤，一枚红色英勇勋章。 红色英勇勋章，第九章40小说大量使用了讽刺、象征主义、暗喻，读起来感觉并不直白。41与克莱恩的其它作品一样

26、，小说的对话时长使用当地的方言，以对应历史；例如，吉姆·康克林在小说开始时戏言："I s'pose we must go reconnoiterin' 'round th' kentry jest t' keep 'em from gittin' too clost, or t'develope'm, or something". 42随着故事的发展，语气也变得更加讽刺，特别是叙述者与主角之间距离拉大。43作品的题目自身也是一种讽刺；亨利希望“他也可以有一道伤疤，一枚红色英勇勋章”，意思是他希

27、望在战场上负伤。他的确负伤了（被联邦逃兵用枪托击中头部），然而，这个勋章实际上不是英勇，而是耻辱。44通过给角色起绰号（“年轻人”、“衣衫褴褛的士兵”）克莱恩为作品赋予了托寓特质，指明了角色的人物特性。45在红色英勇勋章有许多隐含意义，对此的解释无数。1968年，在罗伯特·W·斯达曼（Robert W. Stallman）写的克莱恩传记中，一些评论家探索了小说中的基督寓意。46例如，亨利·弗莱明的朋友吉姆·康克林之死颇像基督，第九章结尾句将太阳比喻为“愤怒的圣饼”。47约翰·贝里曼是评论家中第一位将小说解释为现代荒漠，主角则代表了每一个人。其它

28、人则与西奥多·德莱塞、弗兰克·诺里斯、杰克·伦敦对比，认为小说呈现出自然主义的结构。48Style and genreeditA river, amber-tinted in the shadow of its banks, purled at the army's feet; and at night, when the stream had become of a sorrowful blackness, one could see across it the red, eyelike gleam of hostile camp-fires set i

29、n the low brows of distant hills.The Red Badge of Courage, Chapter one33The Red Badge of Courage has a distinctive style, which is often described as naturalistic, realistic, impressionistic or a mixture of the three.34 Told in a third-person limited point of view, the novel reflects the inner-exper

30、ience of Henry Fleming, a young soldier who flees from combat, rather than upon the external world around him. The Red Badge of Courage is notable in its vivid descriptions and well-cadenced prose, both of which help create suspense within the story.35 Critics in particular have pointed to the repea

31、ted use of color imagery throughout the novel, both literal and figurative, as proof of the novel's use of Impressionism. Blue and gray uniforms are mentioned, as are yellow and orange sunlight, and green forests, while men's faces grow red with rage or courage, and gray with death.7 Crane a

32、lso uses animalistic imagery to comment upon people, nature, and war itself. For example, the novel begins by portraying the army as a living entity that is "stretched out on the hills, resting."36While the novel takes place during a series of battles, The Red Badge of Courage is not a tra

33、ditional Civil War narrative. Focusing on the complex internal struggle of its main character, rather than on the war itself,9 Crane's novel often divides readers as to whether the story is intended to be either for or against war.37 By avoiding political, military, and geographic details of the

34、 conflict between the states, the story becomes divorced from its historical context.38 Notably lacking are the dates in which the action takes place, and the name of the battle; these omissions effectively shift attention away from historical patterns in order to concentrate on the emotional violen

35、ce of battle in general.39 The writer alluded to as much in a letter, in which he stated he wished to depict war through "a psychological portrayal of fear."1Writing more than thirty years after the novel's debut, author Joseph Conrad agreed that the novel's main struggle was inter

36、nal rather than external, and that Fleming "stands before the unknown. He would like to prove to himself by some reasoning process that he will not 'run from the battle'. And in his unblooded regiment he can find no help. He is alone with the problem of courage."36 Crane's real

37、istic portrayal of the psychological struck a chord with reviewers; as one contemporary critic wrote for The New York Press: "At times the description is so vivid as to be almost suffocating. The reader is right down in the midst of it where patriotism is dissolved into its elements and where o

38、nly a dozen men can be seen, firing blindly and grotesquely into the smoke. This is war from a new point of view."2At times he regarded the wounded soldiers in an envious way. He conceived persons with torn bodies to be peculiarly happy. He wished that he, too, had a wound, a red badge of coura

39、ge.The Red Badge of Courage, Chapter nine40With its heavy use of irony, symbolism and metaphor, the novel also lends itself to less straightforward readings.41 As with many of Crane's fictional works, the novel's dialogue often uses distinctive local dialects, contributing to its apparent hi

40、storicity; for example, Jim Conklin muses at the beginning of the novel: "I s'pose we must go reconnoiterin' 'round th' kentry jest t' keep 'em from gittin' too clost, or t'develope'm, or something".42 The ironic tone increases in severity as the novel p

41、rogresses, especially in terms of the ironic distance between the narrator and protagonist.43 The title of the work itself is ironic; Henry wishes "that he, too, had a wound, a red badge of courage", echoing a wish to have been wounded in battle. The wound he does receive (from the rifle b

42、utt of a fleeing Union soldier), however, is not a badge of courage but a badge of shame.44By substituting epithets for characters' names ("the youth", "the tattered soldier"), Crane injects an allegorical quality into his work, making his characters point to a specific chara

43、cteristic of man.45 There have been numerous interpretations concerning hidden meanings within The Red Badge of Courage. Beginning with Robert W. Stallman's 1968 Crane biography, several critics have explored the novel in terms of Christian allegory.46 In particular, the death of Henry Fleming&#

44、39;s Christ-like friend, Jim Conklin, is noted for evidence of this reading, as well as the concluding sentence of chapter nine, which refers to the sun as "fierce wafer" in the sky.47 John Berryman was one of the first critics to interpret the novel as a modern wasteland through which the

45、 protagonist plays the role of an Everyman. Still others read the novel as having a Naturalist structure, comparing the work to those by Theodore Dreiser, Frank Norris and Jack London.48主题编辑如题所示，小说的主题是亨利·弗莱明试图通过获得“红色英勇勋章”来证明自己是个合格的士兵。从前十二章到他负伤这一故事段落却恰恰揭露了他的懦弱。随后的章节描述了他的成长，并很明显地向英雄主义发展。49在战斗打响前，

46、小说主角将战争浪漫化；他对战争的认识停留在书本阅读上：“他读过行军、围城、争斗，他渴望看到这一切”。50因此，当亨利真正接触到战争现实的残酷时，他吓呆了，他的理想主义破灭了。亨利试图在存在主义中寻求安慰，却发现自己陷入了毫无意义的世界，并努力地在内心中挣扎，奋力求解。当他似乎可以解释自己的处境时，却又被战争的恐惧吓倒，后者威胁着要撕裂他文明智慧的身份地位。51约瑟夫·海格舍默（Joseph Hergesheimer）在1925年诺普夫（Knopf）版中作序，认为红色英勇勋章的核心是“自身、自控知识在一个男孩中诞生”的故事。52然而，文章有时模棱两可，让人怀疑亨利到底有没有成熟。评论家

47、唐纳德·吉布森（Donald Gibson）在红色英勇勋章：将英雄重新定义中称：“小说将自己廉价出售了。它自称没有回答所提出的问题；但是所述的却是相反的. 它称亨利·弗莱明最终看到事物真实的一面；但是又称他是个被欺骗的傻子。他称亨利没有看穿事物的本质，但别人也没有。”53虽然克莱恩评论家、传记作者斯达曼（Stallman）写到亨利在小说末尾获得了“精神上的改变”，但他也发现这个主题难以故事神秘的结尾对应。虽然亨利抛弃了他之前的“浪漫观点”，开始成熟，并“朝着男子气概与道德胜利的方向前进着”，但是“英雄教育的结局与开始一样：自我欺骗。”52评论家威廉·B·

48、狄林汉（William B. Dillingham）也注意到小说英雄主义的悖论，特别是从自省角度来讲，亨利在小说后半部分陷入了毫无理由的自我抛弃中。狄林汉称“为了勇敢，人在物理争斗中必须抛弃人类的最高功能，理性与想象，转而使用直觉，甚至是兽性。”54自然世界的冷漠这一主题在克莱恩的作品中反复出现。55在小说的开始部分，部队开进战场，而天空被描述为纯洁的“仙女蓝”。到第七章时，虽然战斗残酷地进行着，但亨利注意到自然那不可思议的宁静，好像“一位对悲剧深恶痛绝的妇女”一样。56类似地，天空对战场上的屠杀也表示冷漠。57自然的甜蜜与战争的毁灭在第十八章中被写成二分法：“阴燃的废墟中散发着黑色的烟云，飘

49、向太阳。太阳或明或暗，停留在珐琅般的蓝天上。”58当亨利逃离战场时，他从自然中得到了一些安慰，后者似乎证明了他之前的懦弱：59这片土地给了他慰藉。美丽的田园维持着生命。这是和平的宗教。它羞涩的眼光宁死不愿见血. 他把松果扔向一只欢快的松鼠，松鼠受惊逃跑。它在树顶停下，从树枝后面小心地伸出自己的脑袋来，惊恐地向下望去。年轻人从中倍感得意。这是规律，他说。自然给了他启示。当发现危险时，松鼠想也没想就逃跑了。他没有麻木不仁地将自己的肚皮暴露给枪林弹雨，看着多愁善感的天空倒地而去。相反，他的双腿以最快的速度带他逃离了现场。ThemeseditAs the title of the work sugge

50、sts, the main theme of the novel deals with Henry Fleming's attempt to prove himself a worthy soldier by earning his "red badge of courage". The first twelve chapters, until he receives his accidental wound, expose his cowardice. The following chapters detail his growth and apparently

51、resulting heroism.49 Before the onset of battle, the novel's protagonist romanticized war; what little he knew about battle he learned from books: "He had read of marches, sieges, conflicts, and he had longed to see it all".50 Therefore, when confronted by the harsh realities of war, H

52、enry is shocked, and his idealism falters. Finding solace in existential thoughts, he internally fights to make sense of the senseless world in which he finds himself. When he seems to come to terms with his situation, he is yet again forced into the fears of battle, which threaten to strip him of h

53、is enlightened identity.51 Joseph Hergesheimer wrote in his introduction to the 1925 Knopf edition of the novel that, at its heart, The Red Badge of Courage was a "story of the birth, in a boy, of a knowledge of himself and of self-command."52However, the text is ambiguous, making it quest

54、ionable that Henry ever matures. As critic Donald Gibson stated in The Red Badge of Courage: Redefining the Hero, "the novel undercuts itself. It says there is no answer to the questions it raises; yet it says the opposite. It says that Henry Fleming finally sees things as they are; it says he

55、is a deluded fool. It says that Henry does not see things as they are; but no one else does either."53 Although Crane critic and biographer Stallman wrote of Henry's "spiritual change" by the end of the story, he also found this theme difficult to champion in light of the novel

56、9;s enigmatic ending. Although Henry "progresses upwards toward manhood and moral triumph", as he begins to mature by taking leave of his previous "romantic notions," "the education of the hero ends as it began: in self deception."52 Critic William B. Dillingham also noted the novel's heroism paradox, especially in terms of the introspective