American Realism: a literary movement

Huge upheavals are changing our country and culture Abraham Lincoln becomes president after attacking slavery and insisting that the Federal government has "the power of restraining the extension of the institution." South Carolina votes to secede from the Union 1861 – Civil War starts The Emancipation Proclamation is signed 1865 – Civil War ends Thirteenth Amendment abolishes slavery All males over 21 are granted suffrage in US territories Territory of Utah gives full suffrage to women 1871 – Charles Darwin’s The Descent of Man 1876 – Alexander Graham Bell invents telephone 1876 – Custer attacks Sioux forces at Little Big Horn 1877 – Thomas Alva Edison patents phonograph 1878 – Edison invents light bulb – “exodusters” 7- 15,000 African Americans move to Kansas 1880 – Chinese Exclusion Treaty signed first Kodak box cameras are sold 1881 – Tuskagee Institute formed by Booker T. Washington 1881 – OK Corral in Tombstone 1884 – Chicago houses first skyscraper 1886 – Haymarket Riot 1887 – Dawes Severalty Act: 60 acres/ Native American family 1890 – Jane Adams forms Hull House 1896 – Plessy vs. Fergeson – separate but equal

Authors (like other artists) try to make sense of this – the life they are seeing isn’t reflected in the Romantic literature that was previously produced in America.

Romanticism Nature emphasized. Prefers action to character. Characters not as complexly related to each other or to their society. Origins and class of characters sometimes irrelevant, sometimes a mystery.

Romanticism didn’t depict their reality … … so Realism developed in America. Realism is …

Realism developed after the Civil War because the romantic novel (remember The Last of the Mohicians) could not capture the disappointment, senselessness, and horror of war. American Realism

Realist writers used ordinary people as their subjects instead of larger than life heroes (like Hawkeye). As they wrote about regular people they had to examine local manners; another important aspect of realism is that authors tried to explain why ordinary people behave the way they do. American Realism

While Realism focused on people … Authors also started to ask what the effects of PLACE (setting) on stories and the characters in them, which lead to American Regionalism. Regionalism is …

American Regionalism Regionalism is literature that emphasizes a specific geographic setting and that reproduces the speech and manners of people who live in that region.

While regional writers might be realistic in their depiction of speech patterns and manners, they were often unrealistic in their depiction of character and social environment. This is where regionalism differs from realism; realism tried to reproduce accurately the social conditions and human motivations. American Regionalism

Prominent American writers during this time: Regionalist Authors: Harriet Beecher Stowe Kate Chopin Mark Twain Realist Authors: Stephen Crane W. D. Howells Edith Wharton

… so before we start our next short stories-- … be ready to examine characters in a deep, patient analysis … using feminist criticism, psychoanalytic theory, and structuralism.