Transcript American Realism (1860

AMERICAN REALISM
(1860-1915)
"Realism is nothing more and
nothing less than the truthful
treatment of material."
- William Dean Howells
AMERICAN LITERARY PERIODS
Native American (before 1600)
Colonial / Puritan (1600-1750)
Age of Reason / Revolution (1750-1800)
Romanticism (1800-1860)
Realism (1860-1915)
BELIEFS OF REALISM
Literature should “tell it like it is”
Nature is a powerful and indifferent force beyond
man’s control
Authors used clear, direct language to present
ordinary, everyday events
Writing often aimed at changing a specific social
problem
COMPARISON
Realism
“Tell it like it is”
Nature is a powerful
and beyond man’s
control
Authors used clear,
direct language to
present ordinary,
everyday events
Romanticism
Idealized life and
people
Man has a close
relationship with
nature
Authors used fancy,
eloquent language
WRITING STYLE OF REALISM
PHYSICAL DETAIL
 Emphasized by writers
 People and scenes described in greater detail than
ever before
 Descriptions included trivial and irrelevant
material
 Detail not only visual, but often appealed to all
five senses
WRITING STYLE OF REALISM
ORDINARY CHARACTERS
 Avoided using unusual characters or heroic
characters, or characters that stood out in some
way
 Main characters were ordinary people doing
ordinary things, such as businessmen, janitors,
nurses, street vendors, etc.
WRITING STYLE OF REALISM
POINT OF VIEW
 Neutral and relatively objective in comparison to
previous literature
 Author did not put himself into the story and talk
directly to the reader
 "Just reporting the facts" describes the storytelling
method
 Regional or racial dialect often used
WRITING STYLE OF REALISM
SUBJECT MATTER
 Dealt candidly with social issues which before the
Civil War were rarely explored in literature
 Examples--women' rights, poverty, the inequities of
Big Government, mental illness, big city crime, and
so on.
THEMES
Survival
Fate
Violence
Nature as an indifferent force
NATURALISM
Division of Realism
Had “darker” view of the world
Universe is unpredictable
Characters’ lives shaped by forces they
can’t understand or control
People are victims of their
surroundings or their desires
CIVIL WAR LITERATURE
Important political documents
The Gettysburg Address
The Emancipation Proclamation
Arguments over slavery and states’ rights
Speeches and debates
Letters, essays, and newspaper articles
WRITERS AND THEIR WORKS
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Most famous woman of
her day
Wrote Uncle Tom’s
Cabin, most influential
book of 19th Century
WRITERS AND THEIR WORKS
Frederick Douglass
An escaped slave
An effective orator
Influential newspaper
writer
Militant abolitionist
Wrote his
autobiography
WRITERS AND THEIR WORKS
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne
Clemens
Great American
humorist and novelist
Huckleberry Finn
Tom Sawyer
WRITERS AND THEIR WORKS
Stephen Crane
Naturalist
Wrote on the “darker
side”
Attacked patriotism,
individualism, organized
religion
Red Badge of Courage
WRITERS AND THEIR WORKS
Jack London
Naturalist
Wrote about survival
of the fittest
Call of the Wild
White Fang
“To Build a Fire”
WRITERS AND THEIR WORKS
Bret Harte
Regional writer—tried
to capture “local color”
of a particular area
Wrote about the Old
West
“Outcasts of Poker
Flat”
WRITERS AND THEIR WORKS
Willa Cather
Regional writer
 Wrote about life on
the Nebraska prairie
Won a Pulitzer Prize
SUMMARY
Civil War greatly influenced Realism
Realism concentrated mainly on
individuals and their situations
Realists believed nature was a
powerful, indifferent force beyond
human control
Writers used clear, direct language
to present ordinary, everyday events