Realism Across the Globe (Volume E)

Realism Realism began in Britain and France, where industrial and political revolutions had recently taken place. Goya’s painting captures the Spanish resistance to Napoleon, who under the initial guise of aiding Spain, instead occupied Spain in 1808; this led to the Second of May uprising, a rebellion by the people of Madrid, and the execution of Spaniards by the French a day later (depicted in this painting). The painting is poignant in its realism and focus on an execution rather than valor or victory in war. The image is a painting titled The Third of May (1814) by Francisco de Goya. Prado Museum, Madrid.

Literary Aims truth without sentiment democracy middle- and working-class issues industrialization city versus countryside sensory experience “beauty” Realist writers wanted to write fiction that reveals truths about the world, to observe social life unsentimentally and to convey it objectively, now focusing on new subject matter related to the rise of democracy, the middle class, the Industrial Revolution, and working-class issues. They routinely chose the city over the countryside, and provided detailed description of squalid surroundings. Religion, symbolism, and allegory are largely absent; instead the focus is on sensory experience and the observable world. The idea of “beauty” transformed as ugliness and the hideous were recognized as appropriate subjects for art works. The painting is titled The Stonebreakers (1848) by Gustave Courbet. A realist painter, Courbet’s work put working-class people and their lifestyles into the limelight, which was a break from previous modes of painting, in which idyllic, mythical, and religious groups or aristocratic and political movements were featured.

Elements ordinary language omniscient or first-person narrator issues with plot, scenarios, endings “unvarnished truth telling” ethical dilemmas questions For writers wanting to capture the whole social world in an objective style, the use of ordinary language and omniscient third-person narrator provided the perfect, impersonal perspective. Other writers opted for first-person narrators, guided only by their own senses and experience. Elements of character and plot raised challenges and opportunities as writers tried to stay clear of sensational events and neat endings, which compromised the idea of “unvarnished truth telling.” Dramatic interest lay in having the character make a difficult choice or be faced with an ethical dilemma. Questions included: Can individuals have an impact on unjust social relationships? What responsibility does a person have toward others in a city, nation, or his own family?

Darwinism and Naturalism adaptation to one’s social environment choice and human biochemistry social profiling A later offshoot of realism, called naturalism, turned to Charles Darwin for a model: human beings would only survive to the extent that they could adapt to their social environments; additionally, human behavior and choice could largely be defined by biochemical reactions in the body and brain rather than be based on a soul or higher thought process. During this period, some thinkers also perverted Darwin’s theories by introducing the kernels of racial profiling and assumptions that people of different ethnic background possessed physical and mental characteristics that gave them better advantages for adapting to social situations. The photograph of Charles Darwin was likely taken by Maull and Foxx (1859).

Capturing Reality Degas’s portrait, titled Place de la Concorde (1875), marks an important revelation: photography had started to trump painting because it was more “real” and could capture natural rather than contrived or fictitious scenes. In this painting, Degas proves that a painting can be just as realistic as a photograph—students will notice, for example, that the painting is not centered, that the figures are not facing forward and are not shown in full profile.

Higuchi Ichiyō Japanese realism poor, marginal characters city life and finance speech, dialogue Ichiyo, a Japanese woman writer, published fiction that focused on poor and marginal characters in the city as they struggled to make choices in a difficult economic environment. She used colloquial speech and lively dialogue that sounded more “natural” (real) than that of traditional characters. Photograph of Ichiyo (1895).

Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) Nobel Prize (1913) polydidact multifaceted Indian realism school at Shantiniketan, 1901 Rabindra-sangit Tagore was the first Asian to receive the Nobel Prize (1913) for his contribution to poetry. He was a multifaceted artist, working as a writer, painter, performer, educator, and political thinker. Tagore was educated in Calcutta but rebelled against formal education; he received a law degree at University College (London), had an arranged marriage, and wrote prolifically to establish Indian realism. He established a school at Shantiniketan in 1901and launched a college that was unconventional and used an “open-air” teaching method. He composed 2,200 songs and set them to music in a genre now known as Rabindra-sangit. Painting by Tagore, titled Brooding (ca.1941). National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi.

Dostoevsky “They call me a psychologist but it’s not true. I’m merely a realist in a higher sense, that is to say I describe all the depths of the human soul” (p. 635). Russian Orthodox Church 1821, Moscow death sentence, exile gambling, epilepsy Dostoevsky was born in 1821 in Moscow, the son of a stern doctor and a compassionate mother, both who were devout members of the Russian Orthodox Church. Dostoevsky attended engineering courses, worked in a government job, and struggled with a gambling addiction and epilepsy. In 1848 he joined a group of subversive socialists and atheists in St. Petersburg, was arrested and given a death sentence, but was pardoned with exile and hard labor in Siberia. The image is a painting of Dostoevsky (1872) by Vasily Perov. Held in the Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.

Test Your Knowledge Though it spread quickly across the globe, and in some cases developed from local literary traditions, realism began primarily in which of the following? a. France and Russia b. Japan c. North America and Britain d. Britain and France Answer: D Section: Realism Across the World Feedback: Realism began in Britain and France. The mid- to late-nineteenth century saw a new era of “globalism.” Artistic styles and ideas—just like their commercial counterparts—spread widely and quickly.

Test Your Knowledge Realist fiction tended to feature which of the following? a. great heroes of the past b. the poor c. British kings d. mythic archetypes Answer: B Section: Realism Across the World Feedback: While realist fiction often included a diverse cast of characters, one of its defining features—i.e., what distinguished it from previous literary traditions—was its focus on otherwise marginal figures from real life: the poor, the sick, and the powerless. When realist works did include the powerful from society, it was often in the context of interactions between various classes of people.

Test Your Knowledge Realist fiction tended to emphasize which of the following? a. transcendent experience b. spiritual awakening c. empirical reality d. sense and sensibility Answer: C Section: Realism Across the World Feedback: With its attention to the realities—sometimes the very harsh realities—of everyday life, most realist fiction saw the world in terms of what was empirically, verifiably “there,” outside of any subjective or transcendent experience.

Test Your Knowledge The genre primarily associated with realism is: _________. a. drama b. poetry c. prose nonfiction d. the novel Answer: D Section: Realism Across the World Feedback: The novel and to some extent the short story were the preeminent genres of the realist movement. The novel in particular allowed for experiments in form (like the mixing of multiple genres—letters, diary entries, news reports—within a larger form) and also the expansive space that realist writers used to elaborate the details of characters, storylines, and gritty urban settings.

This concludes the Lecture PowerPoint presentation for The Norton Anthology of World Literature