1. The Historical and Cultural Context of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

2. Second Half of 19th CENTURY
The Civil War
Urbanization and Industrialization
Increase of Democracy and Literacy
Extreme contrasts between rich and poor
Immigration
Emerging Middle Class
Upheaval and Social Change

3. What’s New? First mappings of the West First transcontinental railroad
First Photography
What might the effect of these changes be?
Discuss with someone on the other side of you: 30 seconds

4. 19th century Americans are self-conscious…
They want to know what their new country looks like, and how the varied races of growing population live and talk
Photography as a social mirror…
Massive social changes reflected in literature & photography.
Mathew Brady, Alexander Gardner: honest photographic record of the Civil War.
Photography, like literary Realism & Regionalism
showed TRUTH.

6. Review: Romantic, Transcendentalist and Dark Romantic Literature
Characters
Message
Plot
Literary techniques

7. Effect of the Civil War
Why would the Civil War have an effect on the themes, characters and plots of literature?

8. Realism – Prominent from 1860-1890
A faithful representation of reality in literature, also known as “verisimilitude.”
Emphasis on development of believable characters.
Written in natural vernacular, or dialect.
Drew subject matter from “our experience”
Focused on the common, the average, the probable
Questions?

9. Regionalism - Prominent from 1865-1895
Arose from:
Dual influence of Romanticism and Realism
The Civil War and the building of a national identity
An outgrowth of realism with more focus on a particular setting and its influence over characters
Focused on:
“local color.”
Characters, dialect, customs, topography, and other features specific to a certain region (eg. the South)
Questions?

10. Naturalism – Prominent 1880-1920’s
Applied scientific principles of objectivity and detachment to the study of human beings.
Influenced by Darwinism (natural selection) and psychology (Freud)
Posited that men were governed by heredity and environment.
Often depict man in conflict with nature, society, or himself.
Questions?

11. Realist, Regionalist and Naturalist Writers
Realist Writers
Naturalists
Mark Twain
Stephen Crane
William Dean Howells
Ambrose Bierce
Henry James
Jack London
Edgar Lee Masters
Edwin Arlington Robinson
Regionalist Writers
Katherine Anne Porter
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Kate Chopin—South
Edith Wharton
Mary E. Wilkins- Freeman—New England
Mark Twain—West
Willa Cather—Midwest