Realism in Literature

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Realism in Literature
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View of God

• Usually not really a role in realistic literature
• Some mention of Providence or God, but usually
  ironic
• Satirical of Protestant or fundamentalist/Puritan
  ideas of God, religion, especially Fundamentalist
  or Calvinist extremes (heaven/hell, Gods hand in
  everything that happens, etc)

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View of Man

• As rationalists, saw man as neither good nor
  badjust what he was
• Unlike rationalists, fatalistic about mans
  perfectibility
• Usually vs Romantic ideal of noble savage

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View of Nature

• Differs from Romanticssees nature in many ways
  source of peace, destructive force.
• Shows both the benevolent and harmful faces of
  nature in literature.
• Settings realistic in detail, whether beautiful
  or threatening.

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Good/Evil

• Good/evil not important as much as consequences
  of actions realists try to present actions that
  conform to the way people really act.
• Not judgmental aim is to present man as he is,
  with both bad and good in him, making choices.

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Realism in American Literature

• Real, common, every-day situations with true to
  life characters
• Attention to details to recreate life reflective
  situations and settings
• Objective, even journalistic, POV
• Use of dialect.
• Regional writers aim to present the way of
  life of people in a particular area of the
  country, with all their regional beliefs and
  customs
• Examples
• Mark Twain Huckleberry Finn
• Bret Harte Outcasts of Poker Flat

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Realism in European Writers

• Same basic aims as Americans
• Reliance on realistic portrayals of characters,
  not so much on plot conflicts are often
  internal, characters multilayered and complex
• Subgenre social realism, concerned with
  realities of exploited lower classes
• Examples Zola, Balzac in France, Eliot in
  England, Dostoyevsky in Russia Henry
  JamesAm/British