The Literature of Realism

The Literature of Realism (1)

I. Background

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1. three fundamental issues:

1) conflict between the agrarianism and the industrialism

2) the conflict between the South and the North

3) the conflict between the East and the West

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2.

reaction against “the lie” of romanticism and sentimentalism

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3. battle between “idealists” and “realists”

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4. more attention to the immediate facts of life

5. the

year

1865

an

important

shift

from

Romanticism

to

Realism

a

most significant

event

→

the holocaust or destruction of the Civil War

●

a notable impact on American literature and art

●

a profound emotional and philosophical impact on thinkers and

writers

◆

some changes

1) putting to rest the romantic concept of war

Romantics: a glorious, grand and noble encounter, something heroic

Realists: a way of destroying romantic outlook on life a negative review of war

—

its destruction

2) changing the romantic concept of man

Romantics: man as “the noblest work of God”

Realists: man as a product of the environment, of his heredity, of

fate or chance

3) stimulating industrialization

A. an explosive growth of business and industry a period of amazing engineering

achievements, a period of frantic building and expansion

B. the emergence of an urban civilization a period of great plunder and exploitation,

of greedy

materialism and political corruption

C. the miserable social ills the voices of criticism and voices of anger

4)

beco

ming

the

“melting

-

pot”

society

the

influx

of

millions

of

immigrants

—

more

freedom or a better living, or both

—

a land of opportunity

5) changing the concept of reality

Romantics: the romantic concept of reality, the spiritual reality

Realists: the visibly concrete world, the physical reality

II. Major Features of American Realism

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1. truthful treatment of material

1) examining characters in depth

A. the individual

—

highly

B. the function of environment

—

shaping character

C. characterization

—

the center of the story

D. the effect of action on characters

E. the psychology of the people in the story

2) open ending

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2. commonness of the lives of the common people

3. objectivity; an objective view of human nature and

human experience

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4. moral visions

1) the problems of the individual conscience in conflict with social institutions

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2) focusing on the dilemma

III. Local Color Fiction

1. Background

1) the shift of the publishing center:

A. a new freedom

B. a greater openness

2) the growth of communication and transportation

3) the rapid growth of local magazines

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2. Local-color Realism or Regionalism

1)

a

quality

in

literature

fidelity

to

a

particular

geographical

section

and

a

faithful

representation of its habits, speech, manners, history

, folklore, or beliefs

2) a subordinate order of realism unique in his or her living section

3) more popular after the Civil War

4) a new freedom

5) much more interested in learning about life in other parts of the

country

6) the desire to preserve distinctive ways of life and to come to terms with the harsh realities

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3. Representatives

women:

Mary

E.

Wilking

Freeman,

Sarah

Orne Jewett

and

Harriet

Beecher

Stowe:

New England Kate Chopin: Louisiana

men:

Bret

Harte:

the

Far

West

O.

Henry:

New

Y

ork

City

Mark

Twain:

the

Mississippi River

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4. Local Color Fiction

1) a form of regionalism: local colorism

A. people’s realization

B. asserting their unique identity and seeking understanding and recognition

C. the frontier humorists’ preparation

D. the appearance of a lot of magazines

2) a quality of circumstantial authentic

ity

A. not only an authentic surface but also the depths

B. strong sketches of an environment

C. simplic

ity: characteristic of vernacular language and satirical humor

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5. Basic Features

1) a locale distinguished from the outside world the local character of their particular region

2) the exotic and the picturesque

A. not common in other regions

B. an attempt at accurate dialect reporting

C. a tendency toward the use of eccentrics as characters

D. the use of sentimentalized pathos or whimsical humor in plotting

3) the past

A. not merely as nostalgia but also as realism in the social criticism

B. the world of agrarian life

a. the farms

b. the people who were soon going to leave the farms

c. the small towns

d. a life that was vanishing

4) a great contradiction

A. how things are right now

B. how great the past had been

5) the influence of setting on character the diversity of America

IV

. Naturalism

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1. Background

1) Charles Darwin’s ideas

A. the struggle for existence

B. survival of the fittest C. natural selection

2) Herbert S

pencer’s theory of social Darwinism the weak and stupid would fall victim

in the natural course of events to economic forces

3) the way of the development of the society

4) Darwin’s natural selection: a way to explain human behavior

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2. Emergence

1) Emile Zola:

the purpose of a novelist

A. to be a scientist

B. to place his characters in a situation

C.

to watch the

influences

of

heredity

and

environment

destroy

them,

or,

to

watch them overcome the inimical force of heredity and environment

2) some American writers

A. human beings: no longer free and strong

B. human life: governed by the two crushing forces of heredity

and environment

C. Howellsian realism: too restrained and genteel in tone

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3. Major Features

1) the application of the principles of scientific determinism

2) three major concepts of literary naturalism

A. humans: controlled by laws of heredity and environment naturalist fiction: no

evidence of effective choice, or free will, or autonomous action

B.

life:

a

struggle

for

survival

the

naturalist’s concerns:

a. social

systems

that

destroy and dehumanize

b. individual experience of loss and failure

C. a major difference between the literary naturalists and the

realists

a. the violent, sensational, sordid, unpleasant, and ugly aspects

of life

b. all the aspects of life that are not too pleasant to consider

3) naturalist characters:

A. being unable to resist the conditions that press upon them

B. more or less combinations of innate traits and socialized habits

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4. American Naturalistic Writers

1) not as pessimistic about life as the French

2) an optimistic feeling

3) a great regard for rugged individualism

4) similarities in theme and technique

A. the forbidden subjects B. in a daring, open, and direct manner

C. original and experimental in their respective styles

5) two examples of American literary naturalism: Stephen Crane and Theodore Dreiser

A. an optimistic strain

B. the influence of pessimistic determinism

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5. Comparison With Realists and Romantics

1)

naturalists:

reduce

to

nil

the

human

chances

of

winning

on

their

own

terms

realists:

stress

freedom

of

choice

with

large

provisos

concerning

the

power

of

outside

forces

romantics: stress the possible triumph of the human will

2) naturalists: see human beings no more than a physical object under the control of

biological and environmental forces realists: see human beings just human beings romantics: see

human beings almost as a god

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6. Decline of Naturalism

1) the growth of psychological science and of psychoanalysis

2) the tendency to turn into the mythic through sheer immersion in the typical

3) disappearing with World War I