American Realism
(1865-1910)
Romanticism vs. Realism
Life as we Imagine it
Life as it Really IS
“Realism is nothing more, nothing less,
than the truthful treatment of material.”
-William Dean Howells (author)
•Begins in Europe (France)
•In U.S., ushered in by Civil War and social change
•Realists respond to ½ century of Romanticism,
which they saw as tedious, irrelevant, outdated
For Realists, “The redemption of the
individual lay within the social
world.” (Howells)
Realists saw a need to confront social
issues through their writing, art, and
photography.
Social Factors Which Contributed to
the Onset of Realism
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Increasing rates of democracy and literacy
Rapid growth in industrialization and urbanization
Expanding population, especially immigrants
Origins of a “middle class”…increasing class
awareness
• Renewed faith in scientific discovery & progress
– Ex. Growing popularity of the camera……
Real images that showed the Real
world…un-romanticized
Literary Characteristics of Realism
A. Character is more important than plot
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faced with complex ethical choices
life lacks symmetry and plot, so should fiction
rounded, dynamic, believable characters
B. Importance of class, gender, ethnicity
• Examines the plight of lower, socially deprived
classes in America
• Reflects changing face of America
• In America, the novel becomes a staple of the
educated middle class
C. Events are Believable
• Focus on the ordinary…yet within the ordinary
the extraordinary can happen
• Nothing supernatural or “beyond belief”
• An aversion to Emersonian idealism
D. Diction is natural vernacular
• Extensive use of dialogue and dialect…the way
people really talk
• Regional (or “local color”) writers sought to
preserve regional ways and customs amidst
social change…esp. language and geography
• Walt Whitman’s poetry celebrated the
common man and his daily language
E. Change in Author “Voice”
• More reliance on first person narrative
-Author often removes himself from the story
• Decrease in allegory and slow-paced narrative;
still a strong reliance on symbolism
• Purpose of writing is not merely to entertain,
but to instruct as well: Social Purpose
Various Aspects of Realism
• Local Colorists: Mark Twain; Bret Harte
• Social Critics: William Dean Howells; Mark Twain
• Muckrakers: Upton Sinclair; Jacob Riis (photo.)
• New Voices: Paul Laurence Dunbar; Kate Chopin
• Naturalists: Jack London; Stephen Crane; Kate Chopin
Like Romanticism, Realism continues
to influence literature and the arts…