1. American Realism ( )

2. Romanticism vs. Realism
Life as we Imagine it
Life as it Really IS

3. “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Realists respond to ½ century of Romanticism, which they saw as tedious, irrelevant, outdated

4. 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.

5. Social Factors Which Contributed to the Onset of Realism
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……

6. Real images that showed the Real world…un-romanticized

7. Literary Characteristics of Realism
Character is more important than plot
faced with complex ethical choices
life lacks symmetry and plot, so should fiction
rounded, dynamic, believable characters

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. Like Romanticism, Realism continues to influence literature and the arts…