American Regionalism, Realism, and Naturalism

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American Regionalism, Realism, and Naturalism

• 1855-1910

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Realism

• The Civil War was a violent clash, not just of
  armies, but of ideas. Who was right, and who was
  wrong? What did it mean to be an American? Was
  any price too high to pay to keep the nation
  whole?

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What is Realism?

• A faithful representation of reality in
  literature
• A reaction against Romanticism
• Emphasis on development of believable characters.
• Written in natural vernacular, or dialect.
• Prominent from 1855-1870.

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Realist Writers

• Walt Whitman
• Emily Dickinson
• Frederick Douglass
• Abraham Lincoln
• Ambrose Bierce

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What brought about Realism?

• Cultural Divide
• The Civil War
• The urbanization and industrialization of America
• Increasing rates of democracy and literacy
• The emerging middle class

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Regionalism and Naturalism

• Vast, varied, filled with seemingly limitless
  possibilities that was the United States in the
  years following the Civil War. Yet, all around
  them in this land of hope and opportunity,
  writers saw fellow Americans living lives of
  hardship and even despair. Regionalism tried to
  capture the reality of ordinary peoples lives
  naturalism searched for explanations.

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Regionalism

• Often called local color.
• Focuses on characters, dialect, customs,
  topography, and other features specific to a
  certain region (eg. the South)
• Coincided with Realism and sharing many of the
  same traits.
• Prominent from 1870-1910.

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Why did Regionalism develop?

• The Civil War and the building of a national
  identity
• An outgrowth of realism with more focus on a
  particular setting and its influence over
  characters

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Regionalist

• Mark Twain
• Kate Chopin

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What is Naturalism?

• Applied scientific principles of objectivity and
  detachment to the study of human beings.
• Influenced by Darwinism (natural selection) and
  psychology (Freud)
• Posited that men were governed by heredity and
  environment.
• Often depict man in conflict with nature,
  society, or himself.

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Naturalist Writers

• Stephen Crane
• Jack London
• Charlotte Perkins Gilman
• Edith Wharton

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Why did Naturalism develop?

• The swell of immigrants in the latter half of the
  19th century, which led to a larger lower class
  and increased poverty in the cities
• The prominence of psychology and the theories of
  Sigmund Freud
• Pessimism in the wake of the Civil War and
  Reconstruction
• Publication of Charles Darwins Origin of the
  Species

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Points to Remember

• Realism, Regionalism, and Naturalism are
  intertwined and connected.
• Their influence has dominated most literature
  created since 1910, though the movement itself is
  dated to roughly that point.
• They are truly American modes of writing.