Realism and Naturalism in Late 19th Century Literature

Realism

• The Realist movement in fiction emerged in the 1870s, lasting through the turn of the century.

• Realist fiction versus realistic fiction:

realistic fiction refers to any fiction, written at any time that has plausible plot lines, authentic characters, and believable emotions.

• Realism, on the other hand, refers not only to fiction that is realistic, but to fiction that

(1) Shows a concern with social convention, (e.g. how to behave in various social situations), especially the social behaviors of the middle class

(2) Shows an appreciation for industrial, commercial and technological progress(from which the middle and upper middle classes, primarily, benefited).

(3) Uses contemporaneous, middle class subjects and subject matter -- their newfound wealth allowed the middle class to become the reading market.

(4) Has a didactic purpose: writing in order to hold a mirror up to middle class society, to show them their flaws and “instruct” them on improvement.

(5) Is socially determinist: (based on notions of Darwin, biological determinism and adaptation) the individual is ‘determined,’ or influenced by pressures and forces beyond his or her control. Such pressures include race, class, politics and gender.

• American Realist writers include

William Dean Howells

Frank Norris Edith Wharton

Henry James Kate Chopin

Mark Twain Willa Cather

Stephen Crane

Charles Dickens

Naturalism

• An offshoot movement of realism, occurring in the late 1880s and 1890s

• It takes the realist idea of social determinism to its furthest extreme: the individual has no free will, and is entirely determined by external forces beyond his or her control.

• This is what British naturalist Thomas Hardy called the concept of “the imminent will.”

• Naturalism turned to lower class subject matter, and social problems such as prostitution, alcohol and drug abuse, domestic abuse.

• It too was didactic in purpose, hoping to teach society how to right its own wrongs.

• Naturalist writers include

Stephen Crane Anton Chekhov

Theodore Dreiser Emile Zola

Thomas Hardy

Leo Tolstoy

Regionalism and Local Colorists

• Another sub-movement of realism was the regionalist, or ‘local color movement’ also occurring at the end of the 19th century.

• These writers, such as Sarah Orne Jewett and Mary Wilkins Freeman, tried to create a sense of what everyday life in their region of the country was like, by creating realistic characters and using vernacular speech.