Realism

1. Realism verisimilitude (ver-uh-si-mil-i-tood, -tyood), noun: the appearance of truth or reality

2. What is realism? • Literary movement following romanticism • Attempted to portray the “cultural exhuberance” of figurative American landscape and peoples • Showed the reality of American life • Often dealt with serious or “gritty” topics

3. History of realism • Focused in the 19th century • (1865 – 1910) • Tail end of the Civil War and reparations after • Began with French works • William Dean Howell was the first American realism writer, writing about the upper class of Boston • Set during a time of industrial, economic, cultural, and social change • Industrial revolution • Increase in immigration • Structured class system • Important people like Darwin, Ford, Carnegie, Edison, and Teddy Roosevelt

4. Realism as a cultural movement • A movement in art, music, and journalism as well as literature • Muckrakers: journalists influenced by the realism movement who would expose greed and corruption, usually of business • Ex: The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

5. Important participants • Mark Twain • Most famous realism/regionalism writer • Huckleberry Finn • Stephen Crane • Showed the grittiness of the Civil War in The Red Badge of Courage • Kate Chopin • Showed the plight and strength of women in her various stories such as The Awakening • Jack London • Categorized as a naturalist writer • Often showed pioneer or wilderness life in his stories such as Call of the Wild

6. Realism as an Umbrella REALISM Regionalism Classic Realism Naturalism Slave Narratives

7. Regionalism • Literature set in or about one specific region • Uses the language, slang, customs, and ideas of that area • Mark Twain • Mississippi area • Kate Chopin • New Orleans and Louisiana

8. Slave Narratives • Literature based on the written accounts of American slaves, usually after freedom • Made popular by abolitionists or religious missionaries • Often written by the former slaves themselves • Frederick Douglass • Sojourner Truth • Amos Fortune

9. Naturalism • Naturalism: subset of realism, seeks to replicate a believable everyday reality • Seeks not only to describe a believable reality (like realism) but also to define underlying forces influencing its subjects • Very influenced by Darwin and psychology • Explored very harsh themes like poverty, racism, sex, violence, disease, corruption, etc. • Held a large belief in determinism: the philosophical belief that events are shaped by forces beyond the control of human beings

10. But what about the literature? • Very detailed • Characters were more important than plot • This means conflict and irony are also more important • Class structure was a focus • Often the middle and lower classes • Diction is natural vernacular • Characters will speak like they should according to their region (“My dogs was pooped.”)

12. Some terms to know/relearn… • Direct characterization • The author tells the reader what the character is like physically and emotionally • Indirect characterization • The reader must figure out what the character is like based on their actions • Round • A character with many characteristics, emotions, flaws • Flat • A stereotypical character who has one or two strong characteristics • Static • A character that does not change • Dynamic • A character that experiences a change