American Literature Realism, Regionalism and Naturalism

1. American LiteratureRealism, Regionalism and Naturalism Realism, n. The art of depicting nature as it is seen by toads. The charm suffusing a landscape painted by a mole, or a story written by a measuring-worm. --Ambrose Bierce The Devil's Dictionary (1911)

2. Realism • literary movement that developed towards the end of the Civil War and stressed the actual (reality) as opposed to the imagined or fanciful

3. Realism - Characteristics • Ordinary characters in ordinary situations; “real life” • Character more important than action and plot • Complex ethical choices are often the subject.

4. Realism - Characteristics • Class is important; the novel has traditionally served the interests and aspirations of an insurgent (rebel) middle class. • Diction is natural vernacular, not heightened or poetic; tone may be comic, satiric, or matter-of-fact.

5. Why did this literary movement come about? • A reaction against Romanticism • rejected heroic, adventurous, or unfamiliar subjects • The harsh reality of frontier life and the Civil War shattered the nation’s idealism

6. Romance Aspired to the ideal Thought to be more genteel since it did not show the vulgar details of life Realism Thought to be more democratic Critics stressed the potential for vulgarity and its emphasis on the commonplace Potential “poison” for the pure of mind Romance and Realism: Taste and Class

7. How did this literary movement prevail? • The Industrial Revolution • economic, social, and political changes that took place in post-war life allowed American Realism to succeed

8. Who are the Realists? • Mark Twain • Ambrose Bierce • Stephen Crane • Willa Cather • Henry James

10. Regionalism Characteristics • Local stories that focus on the characters, dialect, customs, and other features particular to a specific region. • Use dialect • Detailed descriptions • Use a frame story in which the narrator hears some tale of the region • Stereotypical characters with personality traits central to the region.

11. Regionalism Characteristics • Usually, narrator is educated observer from outside, serving as mediator between the rural folk of the tale & the urban audience to whom the tale is directed • Conflict between urban ways & old-fashioned rural values is often symbolized by intrusion of outsider who seeks something from the community

17. Naturalism • literary movement that was an extension of Realism • depicted real people in real situations like realism, but believed that forces larger than the individual – nature, fate, heredity – shaped individual destiny

18. Naturalism - Characteristics • characters: • usually ill-educated or lower-class • lives governed by the forces of heredity, instinct, passion, or the environment • the criminal, the fallen, the down-and-out

19. Naturalism - Characteristics • Themes • Survival (man against nature, man against himself) • Determinism (nature as an indifferent force on the lives of human beings) • Violence • Frequently urban setting

20. Themes: • The "brute within" • The indifference of nature • The forces of "heredity and environment" (one's background or environment) • An indifferent, deterministic universe (lack of free will or agency)

21. Naturalism Conflicts • Nature is an indifferent force acting on the lives of human beings • Characters struggle to retain a “veneer of civilization” despite external pressures that threaten to release the “brute within”

22. The "brute within"—which is the notion that everyone has "strong and often warring emotions: passions, such as lust, greed, or the desire for dominance or pleasure," leading to behavior considered taboo by society. Encountering the indifferent universe can cause this brute to rise up, often in violent ways. Students will likely see similarities to certain comic book heroes like The Incredible Hulk. • The indifference of nature as man struggles to survive.

23. The influence of "heredity and environment" (or one's background and surroundings) on the development of a person. This emphasizes the difficulty of moving between or mixing social classes (even if successful, the repercussions can be tremendous). Determinism: the inability to express free will or personal agency

24. Who are the Naturalists? • Jack London • Stephen Crane • Bret Harte