Realism 1865 1915 A reaction against romanticism told

Realism (1865 – 1915) • A reaction against romanticism; told it like it was (not sentimental) • Focus on lives of ordinary people; rejected heroic adventure

Realism Cont. • Anti-materialism; rejected the new “class” system • Most art and literature came from the middle class or focused on the middle class.

Realism Cont. • View of nature as a powerful and indifferent force beyond man’s control • Focus on individual responses and thoughts

Realism Cont. • Literature: Focus on novels and short stories during this period. Often aims to change a specific social problem. • Dominant themes: survival, fate, violence, and nature as an indifferent force

Regionalism (Local Color) • fiction and poetry focusing on – Characters – Dialect – Customs – Topography – Etc. as they relate to a specific region

Regionalism Cont. • Influenced by romanticism and realism – the author looks away from ordinary life to • • distant lands strange customs exotic scenes but retains, through small details a sense of honesty and accuracy of description • features regional vernacular or the use of local speech

Regionalism Cont. • Common types of literature include the sketch or short story • Some have argued that this literary movement contributed to the reunification of the country after the Civil War and to the building of national identity toward the end of the nineteenth century

Naturalism • A sub-genre of realism (narrower view) • Like realism but a darker view of the world • Applies scientific determinism to literature: heredity & environment are most important part of humans. Man does not have control over that to which he is responding. • The universe is unpredictable; fate is determined by chance; free will is an illusion • Characters’ lives shaped by forces they can’t understand or control

Naturalism Cont. • Naturalism can be summed up as “the open boat theory” – The “open boat theory” says that they (man) are animals in an environment (in a boat out at sea) trying to survive. There is no transcendence. There is no God there to help them. All they have is their reaction to the environment.