Depictions of Fear in Lev Tolstoy's Sevastopol Sketches and Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage Thesis

(2017). Depictions of Fear in Lev Tolstoy's Sevastopol Sketches and Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage . 10.25148/etd.FIDC001795

thesis or dissertation chair

authors

  • Schusler, Ralph Willard

abstract

  • The purpose of this thesis was to examine and compare two iconoclastic works dealing with war as experienced by combatants. So much of modern war fiction takes this perspective that one is hard pressed to imagine a time when such was not the case; the watershed was marked in the above named works by the aforementioned writers, which, and who, were first in putting readers inside the heads of common soldiers facing mortal danger. These pioneering authors opened the door to modernist writing about boundary situations involving existential threat, as well as the psychological reactions they evoke – especially fear. Depicting the toll the horrors of war take on individuals has helped humanize its study and enhanced our understanding of what had been a hidden cost of modern armed conflict.

publication date

  • March 29, 2017

keywords

  • aesthetic condition
  • combat
  • cowardice
  • fear
  • vainglory
  • warfare

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)