Realism is an attempt to describe human behavior and surroundings or to represent figures and objects exactly as they act or appear in life (a faithful representation of reality).
a movement that began in the mid-19th century, in reaction to the highly subjective approach of romanticism
George Eliot introduced realism into English fiction
Mark Twain and William Dean Howells were the pioneers of realism in the
Henry James’s concern with character motivation and behavior led to the development of the psychological novel
the main tenet of realism:
= writers must set down their observations impartially and objectively
faithful representation of life and character
middle-class life and preoccupations
Naturalism
regard human behavior as controlled by instinct, emotion, or social and economic conditions,
reject free will,
adopt the biological determinism of Charles Darwin and the economic determinism of Karl Marx.
Exponents of Naturalism
First prominently exhibited in the writings of:
Edmond Louis Antoine de Goncourt
his brother Jules Alfred Huot de Goncourt
Émile Zola
American exponents of naturalism:
Frank Norris
Sherwood Anderson
John Dos Passos
Theodore Dreiser
James T. Farrell
William Dean Howells
(1837-1920)
American novelist and critic, born in .
In 1860, he wrote the campaign biography of Abraham Lincoln. After 's election, Howells was appointed consul in , in 1861.
William Dean Howells wrote more than 30 novels, among them:
A Modern Instance (1882), the story of a failed marriage,
A Woman's Reason (1883), a study of society,
The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885), a study of a self-made businessman who never loses his integrity.
In the 1880s Howells became concerned with social issues:
Annie Kilburn (1888) deals with class contrasts in a town
A Traveler from Altruria (1894) and Through the Eye of the Needle (1907) explored the problems of industrial
A Hazard of New Fortunes (1890), a dramatic novel about the newly rich, socialism, and labor strife in , may be Howells's best work of fiction.
The critical works of William Dean Howells include: Criticism and Fiction (1891), My Literary Passions (1895), and Literature and Life (1902)
Supported a diverse group of authors:
Introduced American audiences to Émile Zola, Benito Pérez Galdós, Henrik Ibsen, and Leo Tolstoy.
Encouraged: Stephen Crane, Frank Norris, and Hamlin Garland.
Promoted women writers: Sarah Orne Jewett, Edith Wharton, and Emily Dickinson.
Editor and friend to Henry James and Mark Twain.
() Hamlin Garland
(1860-1940)
Born in . He grew up working on farms.
In 1884 he moved to , where he established a friendship with William Dean Howells.
The economics of farming in the furnished the central themes of his short stories
The grim conditions of American farm life: Main-Travelled Roads (1890) Other Main-Travelled Roads (1910).
In 1894 published Crumbling Idols, a volume of essays on literature and art in which he proposed his critical theory of veritism, a socially conscious realism intended to express unembellished truth.
Hamlin Garland was involved in economic reform, and feminist reform movements.
An advocate for
Native American rights.
Autobiographical work:
1917 Son of the Middle Border 1922 Daughter of the Middle Border
Jack London (1876-1916)
Born John Griffith in
worked at various odd jobs, and in 1897 and 1898 he participated in the gold rush
Wrote more than 50 books, experienced enormous popular success as an author
Frank Norris
(1870-1902)
Born in
Educated at the of and .
A newspaper correspondent during the Spanish-American War (1898) and the Boer War (1899-1902).
McTeague (1899), the tragedy caused by greed in the lives of ordinary people;
The Octopus (1901)
The Pit (1903)
Vandover and the Brute (1914)
A Man's Woman (1900)
The Responsibilities of the Novelist and Other Literary Essays (1903).
Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser
(1871-1945)
Born in , Dreiser was a reporter for the Chicago Daily Globe in 1892, traveling correspondent for the St. Louis Globe Democrat and for the from 1893 to 1894.
Sister Carrie (1900)
Jenny Gerhardt (1911)
The Financier (1912)
The Titan (1914)
The “Genius” (1915)
An American Tragedy (1925)
Dreiser believed in representing life honestly in his fiction, through detailed descriptions of the urban settings
His characters are victims of social and economic forces and of fate
A member of the United States Communist Party
Dreiser Looks at (1928)
Tragic (1932)
Is Worth Saving (1941).
Stephen Crane (1871-1900)
Born in .
In 1891, as a freelance reporter in the slums
Maggie, a Girl of the Streets (1893)
The Red Badge of Courage (1895)
Crane was a correspondent during the Greco-Turkish War (1897) and the Spanish-American War (1898)