1. Realism & Naturalism

2. The Rise of Realism The Civil War and postwar period
Response to the war
Romantics (Poe, Hawthorne, and Melville) used romance to entertain and reveal truth.
Realists, however, sought to portray ordinary life:
Slums
Rapidly growing cities
Factories replacing farmland

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. 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.

5. Regionalism Realism had its roots in regionalism.
Regionalism: 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

6. Smiling Realism
William Dean Howells, editor of the influential magazine The Atlantic Monthly.
Ordinary situations and people
Discussed the social questions perplexing America
Portrayed an America where people acted foolishly, but their good qualities eventually won out.

7. Naturalism Focuses on sociology (study of society) and psychology.
Attempts to dissect human behavior with objectivity, like a scientific dissection.
Human behavior was determined by forces beyond the individual’s power, such as biology and environment .
Life as a grim, losing battle.
Characters had limited choices and motivations.
Humans lived as animals, by instinct, unable to control destiny.

8. The Psychological Novel
Henry James, a realist, but didn’t believe in the blunt, naturalistic view of animal instincts
Concentrated on fine distinctions in character motivation
Complex social and psychological situations
Contrasts innocent, eager Americans with reserved, sophisticated Europeans

9. Ironic Writing
Stephen Crane, a realist: interested in the human character at moments of stress.
Contrasted human pretensions (behavior that is false, artificial, and given to display and grandeur) with the indifference of the universe.
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