1. Realism & Naturalism
"Realism is nothing more and nothing less than the truthful treatment of material."
William Dean Howells

2. The Rise of Realism The Civil War and postwar period
A response to the war and Romanticism.
Romantics (Poe, Hawthorne, and Melville) used romance to entertain and reveal truth.
Realists, however, sought to portray ordinary life “as it was”:
Slums
Rapidly growing cities
Middle class and low class life
African-Americans
Women

3. Romanticism vs. Realism
Larger-than-life heroes
Romantic, exciting adventures
Entertaining writing
Realism
Everyday people
Ordinary life and realistic situations
Sought to explain why ordinary people behave the way they do

4. Characteristics of Realism
“Real” characters and situations.
Character is more important than plot.
Social class is important (literature used to feature only upper class).
Diction (word choice) is natural, not heightened or poetic.
Objective narration.
Revelation of truth, even if ugly.

5. Everyday Life
Realists tried to represent faithfully the environment and manners of everyday life.
The way ordinary people felt and dressed
What ordinary people thought, felt, and talked about
Sought to explain why ordinary people behave the way they do.
Characters: poor factory workers, corrupt politicians, even prostitutes.
Relied on behavior sciences: biology, psychology, and sociology.

6. Regionalism
Regionalism: realistic literature that emphasizes a specific geographic setting.
Makes use of the speech and manners of the people who live in that region.
Famous regionalists:
Mark Twain
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Kate Chopin

7. Naturalism: an extension of realism
Attempts to dissect human behavior with detached objectivity, like a scientific dissection.
Influenced by the evolutionary theory of Charles Darwin
They believed that one’s heredity and social environment determine one’s character.
Deterministic view of life: viewed life as a grim, losing battle in which characters are controlled by heredity, fate, etc. (pessimistic view).
Humans lived as animals, by instinct, unable to control destiny.
Frank Norris, Theodore Dreiser, Jack London, Stephen Crane

8. Perceived the individual as…
In Summary
Genre
Perceived the individual as…
Romantics
a god.
Realists
simply a person.
Naturalist
a helpless object.