RealismRealism (1860 – 1890)

Realism vs. Romanticism

ROMANTIC VIEW OF WAR

The Civil War: A Realistic Depiction

Photography was a new invention at the time of the Civil War. Unlike the American Revolution or other battles, people witnessed actual photographs documenting the horror and reality of war.

Romanticism vs. Realism

Twilight’s Edward reflects a Romantic view of life as a vampire. He falls in love, he can survive without killing people, and….he sparkles!

The Swedish film Let the Right One In depicts the Realistic harsh and unglamorous life of Eli, a lonely vampire living in poverty, who struggles each day to feed and survive.

Which passage is from the Which passage is from the RealistRealist era and which is from the era and which is from the Romantic?Romantic?

“For her, just outside the door of the concert hall, lay the…tall, unpainted house, with weather-curled boards; naked as a tower, the crook-backed ash seedlings where the dish-cloths hung to dry; the gaunt, molting turkeys picking up refuse about the kitchen door.”

REALIST ~“A Wagner Matinee” by Willa Cather

“The flush which still lingered above the pines in the western sky was not more bright nor delicate than the bloom on her cheek…”

Romantic ~Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper

Realism was a response against romanticism

• The Romantic novel offered readers implausible escape, adventure, daring chases, and heroic acts of courage—kind of primitive James Bond or Indiana Jones stories.

REALISM: A response to Romanticism

• Realists wrote about ordinary life--life in the slums and factories of the cities. Their characters were often workers, corrupt politicians, prostitutes, and the destitute.

realism DEFINITION

Realism is “that which does not shrink from the commonplace…or from the unpleasant…in its effort to depict things as they are, life as it is…”

~Bliss Perry, Professor of Literature at Princeton and Harvard University (1900-1930)

“Realism is nothing more and nothing less than the truthful treatment of material”

--William Dean Howells, “Editor’s Study,” November 1889.

William Dean Howells—an American author often considered the father of “Realism.”

realism characteristics

• Felt truth of experience was found in events described accurately and objectively

Early Nickelodeon moving picture show from Thomas Edison, another new technology of this era that influenced artists’ depiction of reality.

realism characteristics

• For example, nonfiction and fictional works addressed the reality of the horror of slavery in the United States.

realism characteristics

• Character is more important than action and plot; complex ethical choices are often the subject.

American Realist painter, George John Brown

realism characteristics

Kate Chopin’s, author of “Story of an Hour, wrote “A Pair of Silk Stockings,” a short story about a poor woman with children who finds fifteen dollars. She faces an ethical choice: should she spend the money on her kids or on herself?

Realism: A RISE IN THE VOICE OF WOMEN WRITERS

Kate Chopin

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Edith Wharton

Sarah Orne Jewett

Helen Hunt Jackson

Realism: A RISE IN THE VOICE OF WOMEN WRITERS

HOWEVER•Women writers, though more common, struggled to gain credibility, so many of their works were not recognized for their literary significance until the 1960s and 1970s.

•Creativity itself was still considered masculine—an act of productivity, incompatible with a woman’s prescribed role as being merely reproductive.

Realism: A RISE IN THE VOICE OF WOMEN WRITERS

• Women writers began confronting and responding to the restrictive reality of their lives:

• A role that was limited to motherhood and domestic work in the home

• The expectation to always act with submission and obedience to their husbands’ wishes

• Laws that did not allow them to vote, hold jobs, own property, or, in some cases, even become educated

Realism: A RISE IN THE VOICE OF WOMEN WRITERS

• Their stories and novels are known for their psychological realism

• A recurring theme was the idea that women could awaken with the realization of entrapment, and yet somehow find a way to be liberated—even if only in their minds.

A page from Gabrielle Bell's graphic novel.

This particular cartoon short story is based on Chopin’s “Story of an Hour”