Realism and NaturalismWeeks 2 - 5

Howells “Editha”Chopin “The Storm”James “The Pupil”

London “To Build a Fire”

First: What Realism Is

A literary movementArose in the 19th century (1800s)

A reaction to Romanticism

William Dean Howells

says it is “the truthful treatment of material.”

What Kind of Truth?

Physical?Psychological?

Social?Spiritual?

Realists usually

Present truth that is verifiable by experience

“Truth” is something like scientific fact

If you can't demonstrate it, it isn't necessarily true or real.

Think About Truth:

Do you believe truth is purely “material”?Can you see, measure, touch God?

What about love?Are love and God real?

What does this reveal about “realism”?

Realists usually

Believe in democracy

They present the common or ordinary.

The “hero” is the ordinary man, not the great.The events are common, not spectacular.

Realists usually do NOT

Try to transcend the immediate to find the “ideal”

Follow traditional “artificial” literary models

. . . This means . . .

Realists

Do NOT focus on the ideal

But they try to truthfully present what happens in the “real” world, not the “fairy tale” world.

Keep in mind that a realist's “real” worldIs not often a spiritual world.

When reading the realist stories, ask yourself if the author addresses religion or the soul.

Realists

Do NOT follow the “traditional” novel form

The hero does NOT always get the girl or win the war.

Instead, the stories may leave you hanging at the end, just like life does sometimes.