1. Literature of the Gilded Age 1865 - 1912
Realism & Naturalism
Ambrose Bierce
Stephen Crane

2. Realism Reaction to Romanticism Tied to social reform
Emphasis on everyday experience
Everyday people – common man
Character over plot

3. Realists Mark Twain Henry James Willam Dean Howells
The Rise of Silas Lapham
Critic
Leading proponent of realism

4. William Dean Howells
Literature should be "simple, natural, and honest"
"Our novelists, therefore, concern themselves with the more smiling aspects of life, which are the more American, and seek the universal in the individual rather than the social interests."

5. Naturalism A branch of realism Determinism Values come from desires
Character’s behavior controlled by
Environment
Heredity
Inner desires
Outer forces

6. Naturalism Frank Norris Ambrose Bierce Stephen Crane Jack London
McTeague
Dentist’s social descent—driven by animal greed—ends in Death Valley
Ambrose Bierce
Cynicism about human nature
Stephen Crane
Jack London

7. ”Episode of War”
He bound his handkerchief over the wound, scolding away in the meantime. His tone allowed one to think that he was in the habit of being wounded every day. The lieutenant hung his head, feeling, in this presence, that he did not know how to be correctly wounded.

8. Red Badge of Courage
As he listened to the din from the hillside, to a deep pulsating thunder that came from afar to the left, and to the lesser clamors which came from many directions, it occurred to him that they were fighting, too, over there, and over there, and over there. Heretofore he had supposed that all the battle was directly under his nose.

9. Red Badge of Courage
As he gazed around him the youth felt a flash of astonishment at the blue, pure sky and the sun gleamings on the trees and fields. It was surprising that Nature had gone tranquilly on with her golden process in the midst of so much devilment.

10. Ambrose Bierce Born in Indiana 1841 Fought in Civil War
Moved to California after war
Journalist
Divorced in 1905
Died 1914?

11. Ambrose Bierce Most important works
Civil War stories – Of Soldiers & Civilians
Devil’s Dictionary
Style
Cynical
Compared to Twain & Poe

12. Devil’s Dictionary DISCUSSION, n. EULOGY, n.
A method of confirming others in their errors.
EULOGY, n.
Praise of a person who has either the advantages of wealth and power, or the consideration to be dead.

13. Ambrose Bierce ALONE, adj. BIGOT, n. In bad company
One who is obstinately and zealously attached to an opinion that you do not entertain.

14. EGOTIST, n.
A person of low taste, more interested in himself than in me.
IMMIGRANT, n.
An unenlightened person who thinks one country better than another

15. Stephen Crane Born New Jersey 1871 College drop out
Freelance journalist
Traveled in US West, Cuba, Turkey, Europe
Died in Germany 1900

16. Stephen Crane Realism Naturalism Social reform Poetry
Often called an early Hemingway

17. Crane - works Maggie of the Streets (1893) Red Badge of Courage (1895)
New standard in war literature
The Black Riders (1895) (poems)
”The Open Boat” (1898)
War Is Kind (1899) (poems)

18. Poetry A man said to the universe: "Sir I exist!"
"However," replied the universe,
"The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation."

19. ”Bride Comes to Yellow Sky”
Look for…
Naturalism
History
What does it remind you of?
What motivates behavior?
Reactions to new situations?

20. Jack London Born in SF (1876)
worked many jobs (fisherman, sailor, laborer, gold hunter)
Prolific writer
Socialist
Individualist
Died in Oakland (1916)

21. Jack London Embodies contradictions of era
Associated w/ Alaska & Pacific
Call of the Wild
Sea Wolf

22. Next Week Regionalism Horatio Alger Rags-to-Riches
Read ”Uncle Remus” stories & E. A. Robinson poems