1. Realism
&
Naturalism

2. Realism
Began after the Civil War as a reaction against the idealism of the Romanticists & Transcendentalists
The enormous loss of life from the war shattered many people’s idealistic attitudes
Writers began to focus on portraying “real life”

3. Focus was on ordinary people and how they lived life
Attempted to show characters and events in an honest, objective, and almost factual way
Stressed “sincerity” as opposed to the “liberty” of the romantic movement

4. Focused on accurate documentation Sociological insight
Accumulation of the details of material fact
Avoidance of poetic diction, idealization, exaggeration, melodrama, etc.

5. Focus Continued
Subjects were taken from everyday life (preferably from the lower class)
Reflected the interests of an increasingly positivist and scientific age

6. Notable Authors Stephen Crane Ambrose Bierce Bret Harte Willa Cather
Kate Chopin

7. Stephen Crane
( )

8. Ambrose Bierce
( ?)

9. Bret Harte
( )

10. Willa Cather
( )

11. Kate Chopin
( )

12. Naturalism Resulted as an offshoot of realism
Applied many of the principles of realism
Major focus on how larger forces (i.e. nature, heredity, & fate) shaped individual destiny

13. Notable Authors
Jack London
( )