PowerPoint Presentation - American Realism & Naturalism

American Realism & Naturalism No More Romantic Sunshine & Rainbows…

Origins/Influences

Began during the Civil War & continued into the early 20th century  Reaction to Romanticism & Transcendentalism: CONTRAST  Fertile literary environment 

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Rising middle class & literacy rates

Social/Political Context  

Reaction to Civil War suffering Invention of photograph –

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Increased literacy & democracy = public hungry for truth & awareness Abolitionism & post-slavery stories –

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Captured true life

Dark side of America

Origins of Muckraking journalism – –

Expose corruption, particularly political & corporate (continues today…) Literature affected: tried to do the same

Realism: Values/Beliefs   

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Contrasts w/Romanticism & Transcendentalism Describes life w/out Romantic subjectivity & idealism Romantics transcend the immediate to find the ideal; Realists focus on the immediate, the here & now and its consequences Present life as it is, not as it might be Like Romantics, focus on common person & daily human experience & progressive, but stimulated change through telling a story that reveals truth & portrays ugliness & cruelty, not preaching (left readers to draw their own conclusions) Multiple views of life: all classes, races, genders – – –

Particularly lower/middle classes Highlight class stratification/inequity Reveal the ugliness & cruelty of life, but leave conclusions to the reader

Literary Conventions 

Characters product of social & environmental factors – Often poorly educated or lower class

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Renders reality closely & often in minute detail, even at the expense of plot

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Settings usually familiar to the writer

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Character more important than plot

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Plausible events avoid sensational, overly dramatic elements

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Usually uses the omniscient point of view

Conventions Cont.

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Natural vernacular/speech, not heightened or poetic (like the Romantics) –

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Tone is comic, satiric, or matter-of-fact Considers seemingly ordinary & uninteresting characters/events in order to extract full value & true meaning –

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Written just as spoken

Simple stories far more complex than they appear

Realistically conveyed sexuality, both its dark and light sides….

Regionalism & Psychological Realism 

Regionalism: focuses on small geographical area in attempt to reproduce speech & mannerisms

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Psychological Fiction: character perspective—as “real” as any reality…

Naturalism 

Branch of Realism

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Philosophical position: scientific laws control life

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Heavily influenced by Darwinism – –

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Darker & more fatalistic (fatalistic = determined by fate, not choice) Lives governed by heredity, instinct, & passion –

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Natural Selection Survival of the Fittest

Nature NOT nurture….

Forces beyond a character’s control restrict attempts to exercise free will or choice More negative than Realism

Famous Authors Naturalist: •Jack London Realist: 

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Mark Twain

–Call of the Wild, “To Build a Fire”

•Stephen Crane –Maggie: Girl of the Street Stephen Crane •Henry James – Red Badge of Courage –Portrait of a Lady, Daisy Upton Sinclair Miller – The Jungle •John Steinbeck William Dean Howells •Of Mice & Men (debatable) Kate Chopin –

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

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“Story of an Hour,” Desiree’s Baby, The Awakening