From Romanticism to Realism & Naturalism

From Romanticism to Realism & Naturalism Civil War to 1914

“A Wild Scene” Thomas Cole 1842 Romanticism

“Slave Hunt” Thomas Moran c. 1870 (p. 423 HRW brown text)

“Home, Sweet Home” Winslow Homer 1863 What details create the irony of the title?

The Rise to Realism • 1859 Charles Darwin ‘s Origin of the Species changes perceptions of God and man’s place in the universe • 1861 Civil War divides the US • Photography (Matthew Brady) • 1865 Lincoln assassinated • Progress of civil rights movements • Gilded Age and Progressives • 1911 Freud’s theories of the unconscious mind again revise perceptions of “self”

Photo-realism

Realism“Better to tell it like it is.” • Rejects the “romantic hero” in favor of ordinary people doing ordinary things • Depicts society and urban settings • Uses slang, regional dialects and “local color” to create realistic characters • Show concern for social issues and class distinctions

Mark Twain, anti-Romantic • Wreck of the “Sir Walter Scott” • Emmaline Grangerford • All about death • Really bad poetry, about death • Tom’s books and plans • “James Fennimore Cooper’s Literary Offenses”

“The only reason for the existence of a novel is that it does attempt to represent life.” -- Henry James

Naturalism, or “Life is hard and then you die—probably painfully and in a gutter.” • Realism + Darwinism = Naturalism • Behavior is beyond human control, a result of biology + environment • Man may try, but it’s a losing battle. • Fatalistic: Human behavior and destiny are predetermined and at the mercy of an uncaring universe.

A man said to the universe: “Sir, I exist!” “However,” replied the universe, “The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation.” --Stephen Crane (author of The Red Badge of Courage)

From Romanticism to Realism & Naturalism