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The Rise of Realism

The Rise of Realism. By Michelle Wilson. Slavery Divides the Country. Civil War Slavery Economic differences. A Response to the War: Idealism. “Concord Hymn” 1861 Concord, MA Emerson predicted war Watched volunteers march to Boston. First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861.

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The Rise of Realism

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  1. The Rise of Realism By Michelle Wilson

  2. Slavery Divides the Country • Civil War • Slavery • Economic differences

  3. A Response to the War: Idealism • “Concord Hymn” 1861 Concord, MA • Emerson predicted war • Watched volunteers march to Boston. • First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861. • War must be pursued (Emerson).

  4. A Reality of the War: Appalling Suffering • Walt Whitman travels to Virginia • Nursed brother back to health • Whitman wrote “Song of Myself”

  5. A Result of the War: Disillusionment • War strengthened Melville’s pessimism. • Melville wrote “Battle-Pieces”. • Wrote of humanity’s basic evil.

  6. The War in Literature • Many diaries, letters, etc. came out. • Works of literary significance were rare. • Emerson: Socks and mittens for soldiers • Wrote patriotic lectures • Thoreau died in 1862, an abolitionist • Dickinson not affected by war

  7. The Rise of Realism • Realists aimed at “very minute fidelity”. • Subjects drawn from slums of large cities • Poe, Hawthorne, Melville averted to simple realism

  8. Realism Takes Root in Europe • Realist writers: Daniel Defoe, George Eliot, Anthony Trollope, Stendhal, and Leo Tolstoy. • Ordinary people do the things they do. • Novels relied on human and animal behavior.

  9. American Regionalism: Brush Strokes of Local Color • Regionalism • Sarah Orne Jewett, Kate Chopin, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Charles W. Chesnutt • Strove to be realistic but often unrealistic • Mark Twain

  10. “Smiling Realism” William Dean Howells most active proponent Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1852: more melodrama than realistic Life: a clash of contrary forces. “Grim Naturalism” Frank Norris: agreed, but disagreed with Howell. Dissect human behavior with objectivity Characters live by instinct Forces beyond individual’s power Realism and Naturalism: A Lens on Everyday Life

  11. Exploring Motivation Henry James European society complex and sinister Examining Characters in Crisis Stephen Crane profound psychologist Interested in human stress Ironist Psychological Realism: Inside the Human Mind

  12. Endings and Beginnings • Early beginnings of modernism • Realism and naturalism dominate American literature • Idealism turns to cynicism

  13. The End

  14. Bibliography • Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. Holt Elements of Literature. Louisiana ed. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston: A Harcourt Education Company, 2008.

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