ENGL 801
Genre: Redefining Realism: Johnson, “Rambler No. 4” and Woolf, “Modern Fiction”
Announcements
 Course Descriptions for Spring 2006 now available in the main office; available from the web
later today.
 Contribute to this week’s Bulletin Board conversation
 For Wednesday
o Redefining Realism and Poetic Prose: Woolf, “Kew Gardens” [CP]
o As you read, consider…
 To what extent does “Kew Gardens” put into practice Woolf’s theories of
fiction from “Modern Fiction”?
 In what ways does “Kew Gardens” cross genres towards the poetic or lyrical?
 Questions or concerns?
Today
 Reminders about M.L.A.
 Assignment for Friday
 Redefining Realism: Johnson, “Rambler No. 4”; Woolf, “Modern Fiction” [CP]
Reminders about M.L.A.:
 Please consult…
o Sections 5.7.1, 5.7.2, and 5.7.3 if you are citing an article from a journal
o Section 5.9.1 if you accessed that article from a full-text database
o Section 5.6.1 for assistance with format for City of Publication and Publisher’s name.
Assignment for Friday
Abstract of a scholarly article and paragraph response
Redefining Realism
 Realism
o A term used “designate a recurrent mode, in various eras and literary forms, of
representing human life and experience in literature” (Abrams 174)
o Often paired with Aristotle’s idea of mimesis (Greek for “imitation”), that art imitates
life – though across the centuries there’s been much debate about the nature of that
mimetic relationship between life and art
o Often used to discuss the novel
o Also designates a nineteenth-century literary movement in France (Balzac), England
(George Eliot), and America (William Dean Howells)
 Samuel Johnson, “Rambler No. 4 [On Fiction]” (1750)
 Virginia Woolf, “Modern Fiction” (1925)
 In groups of three, consider…
o What constitutes “realistic” fiction for Johnson and for Woolf? What qualities should
it have?
o Any similarities in their respective views, or only differences?
 What’s at stake in identifying a text as “realistic,” either as an author or a reader?