19th Century Literature:
The Rise of Realism
The effects of the Civil War,
Industrialization, and movements in
the Fine Arts
Where we have been already:
Colonial literature (1620-1800)
pragmatic/didactic
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Puritanism
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truth in Bible
Rationalism/Deism
Romanticism (1800-1860)
idealized—intuition+imagination
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Romantic Hero
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truth in Nature (God)
Romantic Poetry/Fireside Poets
Where we have been already:
American Renaissance (1840-1860)
idealized—intuition+experience
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Transcendentalism
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truth in Nature—connected to God
Dark Romantics
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(Anti-Transcendentalists)/Gothic
New American Poetry
(Whitman/Dickinson) (1850-1890)
REALISM
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A brief lesson in Art History:
Much of what happened in American
Literature was already happening in
the Fine Arts.
Painters, sculptors, architects were
previously creating Romantic works
that spoke of truth in nature and
the importance of intuition.
Romantic art
Romantic art
Romantic art
19th Century Literature
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Romanticism no longer makes
sense when America has to reckon
with The Civil War
Furthermore, the move away from
an agrarian society towards an
Industrialized nation affects all of
the arts, including literature.
19th Century Literature: REALISM
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Reaction to horrors of war
Also, the squalor of the city
Realism began in the Arts…
19th Century Literature: REALISM
19th Century Literature: REALISM
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Verisimilitude—quality or state
appearing to be real or true
Details of everyday
life/ordinary/“real”
“real” people (common folk—factory
workers)
Faithful representation of
environment/manners of everyday
life—NO Romantic or idealized filter
Tries to explain WHY people behave
as they do
19th Century Literature: REALISM
19th Century Literature: REALISM
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Uses emerging sciences: biology,
sociology, and psychology
A writing technique & also a subject
matter
Documentary-style or history
(closer to non-fiction)
Character more important than
plot/action
19th Century Literature: REALISM
19th Century Literature: REALISM
19th Century Literature: REALISM
19th Century Literature: REALISM
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Subject is often complex, ethical
choices character(s) face
Dialect—“real” language
(vernacular)
Objective tone
Realistic authors:
 Mark Twain
 Henry James
19th Century Literature:
REGIONALISM (Local Color)
19th Century Literature:
REGIONALISM (Local Color)
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A “branch” of Realism focused on
characters, dialect, customs, and
other features particular to a
specific region
Uses realistic depiction of speech
patterns, manners, and behavior
BUT less realistic depictions of
character and social environment
19th Century Literature:
REGIONALISM (Local Color)
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Traits
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Setting
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emphasis on nature and limitations
setting is often remote and treated as a
“character”
Character
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characters as “types” to represent
region
not individuals (often uses stereotypes)
dialect and personality traits tie them to
the specific region
19th Century Literature:
REGIONALISM (Local Color)
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Traits
 Narrator
 bridge between rural characters
in the story and urban
audience/readers
 educated observer who is at a
sympathetic, yet ironic distance
 Often presented as a frame story
or frame narrative (story inside
another story)
19th Century Literature:
REGIONALISM (Local Color)
19th Century Literature:
REGIONALISM (Local Color)
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Traits
 Theme(s)
 Celebrate community/Nostalgia
for the past/Distrust of change
 “intrusion of the outsider”/rural
v. city
Regionalist writers:
 Mark Twain
 Kate Chopin
19th Century Literature:
NATURALISM
19th Century Literature:
NATURALISM
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Uses Realism for a PURPOSE (focused
realism)
Technique and belief that human
behavior is determined by forces
beyond the individual’s power, esp.
biology (heredity) & environment
Humans live like “animals”—by
instinct: humans are unable to
control their own destinies, but are
subject to the natural laws of the
universe
19th Century Literature:
NATURALISM
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Uses realism as a “technique” to
portray details—purpose is to show
that man is governed by heredity and
environment, so they carefully select
which realistic details to show
Dissects human behavior as
objectively as possible like biologist
dissects a frog
Juxtaposes human pretensions with
the indifference of the universe
(nature)—IRONY
19th Century Literature:
NATURALISM
19th Century Literature:
NATURALISM
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Traits
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Setting
 Often urban or lower class
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Character
 Usually lower class
 “social Darwinism”—class struggles
 Attempts at free will are stymied
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Plot
 Clinical, “slice of life” drama
 “Chronicle of despair”
 “Novel of degeneration”
19th Century Literature:
NATURALISM
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Traits
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Theme(s)
 Survival; determinism
 Brute within man
 Warring, internal passions (man v. self)
 Struggling against indifferent universe
(man v. nature)
 Struggle to maintain civility despite
pressures to release “brute”
 Free will as an illusion
19th Century Literature:
NATURALISM
19th Century Literature:
NATURALISM
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Naturalistic writers:
 Frederick Douglass
 Stephen Crane
 Edith Wharton
 John Steinbeck
 Jack London
 Upton Sinclair
IMPRESSIONISM
IMPRESSIONISM
IMPRESSIONISM
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Technique borrowed from Art
(painting) whereby the writer
gives NOT objective reality, but
one character’s perceptions of
reality
IMPRESSIONISM
IMPRESSIONISM
IMPRESSIONISM
IMPRESSIONISM
19th Century Literature: REALISM
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Works for this Unit
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The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen
Crane
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Naturalistic novel using
Impressionism
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Fictional account of Civil War soldier
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Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
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Regionalist novel—Picaresque Novel
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Fictional account of a young rascal in
the slave-holding South
19th Century Literature: REALISM
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Works for this Unit
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Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
 Naturalistic/Regionalist novel—
Frame story
 Fictional account of a married
man in love with another
woman
Other works: The Jungle, The
Awakening, Age of Innocence