The Literature of Realism Essay Example for Free

The Literature of Realism EssayI. Background 1. three native issues 1) conflict among the agrarianism and the industrialism 2) the conflict between the South and the North 3) the conflict between the East and the western United States 2. reaction against the lie of amativeism and sentimentalism 3. battle between conceptionlists and realists 4. more attention to the immediate facts of life 5. the grade 1865 an important shift from Romanticism to Realism a most significant event the holocaust or destruction of the Civil contend ? a notable impact on American literature and device ? a profound emotional and philosophical impact on thinkers and writers ?some changes 1) putting to rest the romantic innovation of war Romantics a glorious, grand and noble encounter, something heroic Realists a agency of destroying romantic arithmetic mean on life a negative review of war its destruction 2) changing the romantic concept of man Romantics man as the noblest work of God Reali sts man as a product of the surround, of his heredity, of wad or chance. 3) stimulating industrialization A. an explosive produce of business and industry a period of terrible engineering achievements, a period of frantic building and expansion B.the emergence of an urban civilization a period of great plunder and exploitation, of greedy genuineism and political corruption C. the miserable kindly ills the voices of upbraiding and voices of anger.4) becoming the melting-pot social club the influx of millions of immigrants more exculpatedom or a better nutriment, or some(prenominal) a land of opportunity 5) changing the concept of domain Romantics the romantic concept of reality, the spiritual reality Realists the visibly concrete foundation, the physical reality II. Major Features of American Realism 1. truthful treatment of strong 1) examining characters in depthA. the individual highly B. the function of environment shaping character C. characterization the c ontract of the news report D. the effect of action on characters E. the psychology of the multitude in the story 2) open closure 2. commonness of the lives of the common people 3. objectivity an objective view of adult male personality and human live on 4. virtuous visions 1) the problems of the individual conscience in conflict with genial institutions 2) focusing on the dilemma III. local anaesthetic Color Fiction 1. Background 1) the shift of the publishing center A. a new freedom B. a greater openness.2) the growth of communication and transportation 3) the rapid growth of local magazines 2. Local-color Realism or Regionalism 1) a quality in literature fidelity to a particular geographical section and a sheep pen representation of its habits, speech, manners, history, syndicatelore, or beliefs 2) a subordinate order of pragmatism unique in his or her living section 3) more popular after the Civil War 4) a new freedom 5) some(prenominal) more interested in learni ng well-nigh life in other parts of the uncouth 6) the desire to preserve distinctive ways of life and to come to terms with the harsh realities 3.Representatives women Mary E. Wilking Freeman, Sarah Orne Jewett and Harriet Beecher Stowe naked England Kate Chopin Louisiana men Bret Harte the Far western O. Henry New York City Mark Twain the disseminated sclerosis River 4. Local Color Fiction 1) a form of regionalism local colorism A. peoples realization B. asseverate their unique identity and seeking understanding and recognition C. the frontier humorists preparation D. the appearance of a apportion of magazines 2) a quality of circumstantial authenticity A. not only an authentic surface but as well as the depths B. strong sketches of an environment C.simplicity characteristic of vernacular language and satirical humor 5. Basic Features 1) a locale distinguished from the outside world the local character of their particular region 2) the exotic and the picturesque A. not c ommon in other regions B. an attempt at accurate dialect reporting C. a inclination toward the use of eccentrics as characters D. the use of sentimentalized pathos or whimsical humor in plotting 3) the past A. not merely as nostalgia but also as realism in the social connoisseurism B. the world of agrarian life a. the farms b. the people who were soon going to leave the farms c.the sm each t accepts d. a life that was vanishing 4) a great contradiction A. how things are right now B. how great the past had been 5) the influence of setting on character the diversity of America IV. Naturalism 1. Background 1) Charles Darwins ideas A. the struggle for existence B. survival of the fittest C. innate(p) selection 2) Herbert Spencers theory of social Darwinism the weak and stupid would fall victim in the immanent course of events to economic motors 3) the way of the breeding of the society 4) Darwins natural selection a way to explain human behavior 2. Emergence1) Emile Zola the purp ose of a unusedist A. to be a scientist B. to place his characters in a situation C. to watch the influences of heredity and environment destroy them, or, to watch them overcome the inimical force of heredity and environment 2) some American writers A. human beings no longer free and strong B. human life governed by the two crushing forces of heredity and environment C. Howellsian realism too restrained and elegant in t oneness 3. Major Features 1) the application of the principles of scientific determinism 2) three major concepts of literary naturalism A. domain controlled by laws of heredity and environment naturalist fiction no evidence of effective choice, or free will, or autonomous action B. life a struggle for survival the naturalists concerns a. social systems that destroy and dehumanize b. individual experience of loss and failure C. a major difference between the literary naturalists and the realists a. the violent, sensational, sordid, unpleasant, and ugly aspects of l ife b. all the aspects of life that are not too pleasant to come across 3) naturalist characters A. being unable to resist the conditions that press upon them B.more or less combinations of innate traits and socialised habits 4. American Naturalistic Writers 1) not as pessimistic about life as the French 2) an pollyannaish feeling 3) a great regard for rugged individualism 4) similarities in theme and technique A. the disallow subjects B. in a daring, open, and direct manner C. original and experimental in their respective styles 5) two examples of American literary naturalism Stephen Crane and Theodore Dreiser A. an optimistic strain B. the influence of pessimistic determinism 5. Comparison With Realists and Romantics.1) naturalists reduce to cypher the human chances of winning on their own terms realists stress freedom of choice with vauntingly provisos concerning the author of outside forces romantics stress the possible triumph of the human will 2) naturalists see human beings no more than a physical object under the control of biological and environmental forces realists see human beings comely human beings romantics see human beings almost as a god 6. Decline of Naturalism 1) the growth of psychological science and of psychoanalysis 2) the tendency to turn into the mythic through sheer immersion in the typical 3) disappearing with World War I4) reviving during the period of the Great Depression in the 1930s The Literature of Realism (2) Some Leading Writers 1. Mark Twain (1835-1910) 1) Life A. born in Florida, Missouri B. a journey man printer at the age of 18 C. a pilot light on the Mississippi River Mark Twain safe water or two fathoms deep D. in 1865, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County 2) Literary Achievements A. The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County (1867) a collection of hapless stories B. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) C. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) 3) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1) th e idea of lost boyhood (2) the first person narration (3) Mark Twains greatest achievement A. the worlds view of America a profound impact onthe development of American writing B. his influences on American writers of the 20th century a. his presentation of native American material b. his art of the vernacular idiom c. his departure from the tradition of the 19th century gentility d. his sense of madness (4) Satire A. Twains satire on southern culture before the Civil War a. two different subjects ? the experience of westward expansion ? the experience of southern slavery b.attitudes toward the South and the West ? much less pleasant ? the problem of slavery the problem of mistreatment of humans by humans c. decry racial discrimination d. making fun of typical American values e. a brooding pessimism about American values and life itself B. Twains satire on the poor whites their ludicrous idea they were white and they were better than black slaves C. Twains satire on the genteel u pper-class southerners a. a very aristocratic life b. being violent accepting their violence as right (5) ardour A. vernacular language unpretentious, colloquial, and poetic style the directness of the language B.local color descriptions of local places and people playing tricks on the reader C. cracker-barrel philosopher the moral stance of a cracker-barrel philosopher (someone who understand folk wisdom, has a pretty good common sense of view of life, and is pretty vivid about social problems) (6) Significance A. the major achievements of his art a. the carefully controlled point of view, with its implicit ironies expressed through the voice of a semiliterate boy b. the masterful use of dialects c. the felicitous balancing of nostalgic romanticism and realism, humor and pathos, innocence and evil B.his ability a. to capture the enduring, archetypal, mythic images of America b. to create the most memorable characters in all of American fiction 2. O. Henry (1862-1910) one of the most prolific modern American oblivious story writers 1) LifeA. born at Greensboro, North Carolina B. named William Sidney Porter C. using the penname O. Henry in his creative writing D. died at 48 2) Literary Achievements A. a great master of the art of fiction B. popular mainly for his short stories a. typically American b. self-sacrificing member of a family c. the wonder ending C. illustration of his styleoriginalconception, exaggeration, simile and metaphor, humor, and surprise ending D. the list of his short stories about 300 titles Cabbages and Kings The Gift of the Magi The Cop and the Anthem A municipal Report 3. Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945) 1) Life A. born from a large, poor, religious, immigrant family at Terre Haute, Indiana B. bitter poverty, lacking education, skill and billet C. against the poverty and narrowness of life D. direct personal experience and independent reading and thinking E. Spencers social Darwinism F. various jobs G. writing short stories.H. o ne of the first American writers to come from the lower take aim of society 2) Literary Career A. in September of 1899, Sister Carrie a. a landmark novel b. almost ignored for more than a decade the heroine transgresses the sexual code a breach of proper moral conduct c. republliation in 1907 very popular, one of the key works in the Dreiser canon d. a egg-producing(prenominal) character, the new woman more freedom in society, more independence, more ability to run her own life without being tied to a family, or without being tied to a husband the graduation exercise of womens liberation movement e.Carrie no control, no freedom of will, a slave to her heredity and to her environment B. Dreisers second novel Jennie Gerhardt (1911) C. The Trilogy of Desire The Financier (1912) The Titan (1914) / The Stoic (1947) and an aptly autobiographical novel The Genius (1915) a. financially successful people are of high sexual energy b. the chaotic nature of life prevents spiritual satisf action c. normal and right for one to get the most from a societys economic system D. Plays of the Natural and Supernatural (1916)The Hand of the Potter (1918) a tragedy E.An American Tragedy (1925) his masterpiece F. political activism and polemical writing a. Dreiser Looks at Russia (1928) b. Tragic America (1931) America Is deserving Saving (1941) G. attending International Peace Conference H. awarded the Merit Medal for Fiction I. joining the American Communist Part J. The Bulwark (1946)3) Major Features A. stressing determinism a. unable to assert their will against natural and economic forces b. sorry in their inability to escape their fates c. subject to the control of the natural forces of heredity and environment B. societys effect on a persona. truthfully reflecting the society and people of his time b. treating human beings scientifically c. finding the explanation that man is the product of social evolution.C. narrative method natural and free from cheat a. his to ne serious, never satirical or comic b. powerful narrative based on large quantities of material and detailed descriptions c. his powerful frankness widens the social and sexual range possible for literature in America d. striking at the American myth that success and famewere to be achieved by work and faithfulness e. dramatizing chance as a means of compelling characters to pay or gain for actions f.characteristic of journalistic method of reiteration, word-pictures, sharp contrast, truth in color, and movement in outline g. its stubborn honesty and realism D. the wheelhouse of American naturalism, chief spokesman for the realistic novel and a profound and prescient critic of debased American values.a. American naturalism came of age b. recording the course and the vulgar and the reprehensible and the terrible William Dean Howells founder of American Realism the most prominent critic of the entire realistic period Henry James a most prominent critic an early psychological noveli st one of the fathers of the psychological novel.