Rise of Realism

1
Rise of Realism

• Engl III

2
Civil War

• 1861-1865
• Result of 4 decades of sectional conflict
• Reflected social, economic, and political
  differences between the North and the South
• Socialurban vs rural
• Economicindustry vs agriculture
• Politicalstrong central government vs states
  rights
• Southern politics were dominated by the small
  minority slave holding planters
• Both North and South were motivated by a
  combination of ideology and economics
• North fought to end slavery and preserve the
  Union
• South fought to uphold states rights and protect
  Southern way of life from materialism

3
The War in Literature

• Few American Writers saw the war first hand
• Emerson was in Concord Thoreau died in 1862
  Hawthorne died 1863 Dickinson remained in
  Amherst Howells, James, and Adams were abroad
• As a result
• Very little important poetry or fiction came from
  the war
• Accounts of the war stemmed from diaries and
  letters
• The real war would not be in literature until
  the development of the realistic novel

4
The Romantic Novel

• Lives lived idealistically
• Larger than life heroes
• Filled with courageous acts, daring chases, and
  exciting escapes

5
Realism in Europe

• Authors
• DeFoe, Eliot, Trollope, Flaubert, and Tolstoy
• Accurate depiction of life
• How people really talked
• How ordinary people lived and dressed
• What was important to the common man
• Sought to explain why people behave as they do
• Relied on psychology, biology, human and animal
  behavioral sciences, and sociology

6
Regionalism

• Emphasizes a specific geographic setting
• Portrays the speech and the manners of the area
• While they strove to be realistic often were
  unrealistic and sentimental

7
Realism in America

• Dominated literature of the late 19th to mid 20th
  century
• Sought to accurately portray life
• Subjects
• Slums
• Factories
• Corrupt politians
• Prostitutes
• Went beyond regionalism in its concern for
  accuracy

8
Naturalism

• Relied heavily on psychology and sociology
• Attempted to dissect human behavior objectively
• Saw human nature as out of mans control
• Controlled by biology and environment
• Humans are totally subject to natural laws