Realism & Naturalism (1850-1914) Realism – “The Faithful representation of reality” “Verisimilitude”

The writing of this period steered away from the Romantic, highly imaginative fiction from the early 1800’s. The four main movements are known as: - Realism - Naturalism - “Literature of Discontent” - Regionalism LITERARY MOVEMENTS

What is Verisimilitude? The appearance of being true or real It is a literary movement that developed towards the end of the Civil War and stressed the actual (reality) as opposed to the imagined or fanciful. Realism was a reaction against romanticism .

Romance Realism Aspired to the ideal Thought to be more democratic Thought to be more gentle since it did not show the vulgar details of life Critics stressed the potential for vulgarity and its emphasis on the commonplace. Ending is often happy Ending is often unhappy Writer is interested in history or legend (Examples: Irving and Poe) Writer is interested in recent or contemporary life.

Characteristics of Realism Renders reality closely and in comprehensive detail. Character is more important than action and plot; complex ethical choices are often the subject. Characters appear in their real complexity of temperament and motive; they are in explicable relation to nature, to each other, to their social class, to their own past. Events will usually be plausible. Realistic novels avoid the sensational, dramatic elements of romanticism Class is important; the novel has traditionally served the interests and aspirations of an insurgent middle class Objective writing about ordinary characters in ordinary situations: “Real Life” Characteristics of Realism

Edward Hopper’s Painting

Naturalism – Characteristics Literary movement that was an extension of Realism Depicted real people in real situations like realism, but believed that forces larger than the individual – nature, fate, heredity – shaped individual destiny. Their writing was inspired by hardships, whether it was war, the frontier, or urbanization. Naturalism – Characteristics Characters: usually ill-educated or lower class; lives governed by the forces of heredity, instinct, passion, or the environment; the criminal, the fallen, the down-and-out. Example: Mark Twain’s “Huckleberry Finn” Themes of survival (man against nature, man against himself), determinism (nature as an indifferent force on the lives of human beings), and violence

Literature of Discontent Along the lines of naturalism, the social problems of this period were seen as a force to deal with. Many groups, from women to freed slaves, started expressing their discontent with the way things were. They started addressing these issues in their writing. Literature of Discontent

Regionalism Regionalism is all about “local flavor” or “local color.” “Local Color” means a reliance on minor details and dialects. They usually wrote about the South or the West. More often than not, these stories were full of humor and small-town characters. Regionalism

The Local Color Movement (1865-1880) Americans wanted to know what their country looked like, and how the varied races which made up their growing population lived and talked. Western regionalists wrote about men and women who dressed differently, spoke differently, and had different social ways. (Fantastic deserts, mile deep canyons, mountains, villages where the only woman was the town whole, camps where they only currency was gold-dust) South regionalists told of swamps where the cypress grew out of the green- scummed water, and of the cities where the obsessive blood-consciousness of its inhabitants testified to the mingling of the races. Mid Western authors narrated tales of the plains where a man could be lost or ruined by hailstorm; of cities where fortunes were made or lost in a day’s trading on the beef or grain exchanges.

The Homestead and Building of the Barbed Wire Fence - Benton