American Realism 1850 1915 American Realism Steamboat Robert

American Realism 1850 -1915

American Realism Steamboat Robert E. Lee, by August Norieri 1884

Realism Most famous literature after the Civil War is called Realism An attempt to portray life and people as they really were This is a direct contradiction to the Romanticism of the early 1800’s

Realism vs. Romanticism was a literary movement that stressed creativity & imagination, emotion, optimism, and idealism (Think about the highly imaginative works of Edgar Allan Poe) Realism in America is a direct reaction to the Civil War these writers are disillusioned by the Civil War use of highly realistic detail Realists looked for meaning in the commonplace

Types of Realism Naturalism Regionalism

Naturalism This is a more pessimistic form of Realism Believed that larger forces such as Fate, Nature, and Heredity determine one’s destiny People have no control over their lives Viewed reality as “the inescapable working out of natural forces”

Regionalism The “local color movement” Use of regional dialect and vivid descriptions of local landscapes Sought to capture “the essence of life in the various regions of the growing nation”

What else is happening? “Reconstruction” of the South Industrial growth Westward expansion / “The Wild West”

Mark Twain 1835 -1910 “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated. ”

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens Grew up in the Mississippi River town of Hannibal, Missouri American humorist Realism / Regionalism Became instantly famous in 1865 when we published “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” Have you ever heard of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Huckleberry Finn Published in 1884 Twain’s masterpiece “All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn. ” – Ernest Hemingway Portrays the adventures of a young white orphan and a runaway slave Delves into the realities of the prewar South

“The Picaresque Novel” from the Spanish word pícaro, meaning “rogue” or “rascal” picaro: a rogue or adventurer Picaresque: a satirical form of prose, often humorous and detailed, depicting a “roguish hero” who lives by his wits in a corrupt society usually written in first person main character is often of low social class told in a series of “episodes” behavior of the picaro is almost criminal, but he remains sympathetic to the reader