In your journals:

How would you define "realistic fiction”?

American Realism 1865-1900

©Cara Persico 2014

“Realism is nothing more and nothing less than the truthful treatment of material”

-- William Dean Howells

Realism is “that which does not shrink from the commonplace . . . or from the unpleasant . . . in its effort to depict things as they are,

life as it is.” It is used “in opposition to conventionalism, to idealism, to the imaginative, and to sentimentalism.”

-- Bliss Perry

Definition

!   Realism was a literary movement that sought to portray ordinary life as real people live it.

!   Realistic fiction was like a “slice of life,” in which realistic details are important and plot is only incidental.

!   Realism replaced Transcendentalism/Romanticism.

!   It attempted to show characters and events in an objective, almost factual way.

!   Realistic writers saw themselves as being in revolt against Romanticism.

For example, the Romantics/Transcendentalists could be considered “pie in the sky” kind of thinkers, whereas the realists tried to see and write “reality” for how it truly was.

Painting: “Looking Down Yosemite Valley”

!   In your notebooks, write down three words to describe this image

Painting: “Snap the Whip”

!   Write down three words to describe this painting.

Discussion

!   What are the differences between the first and the second painting?

!   What seems to be the focus of both paintings?

!   Which one is Romantic and which is Realistic?

Central Questions Central Literary Questions:

•  How does one represent ordinary life faithfully?

!   How does one avoid the dangers of romance, fantasy, and idealism?

Central Thematic Questions:

!   What allows a community to function?

!   What defines it? What threatens it?

Take out your P.I.E.S Chart as we discuss:

!   Political influences

!   Intellectual ideas

!   Economic situations

!   Social influences

Major Changes Rapid advances in industrial, technological fields:

!   Atlantic telegraph cable 1866

!   Transcontinental railroad 1869

!   Early telephone 1876

!   Early automobile 1890s

From 1860 to 1914, the United States was transformed from a small, young, agricultural ex- colony to a huge, modern, industrial nation.

Urbanization !   1860—only 16 cities with population over 80,000; by 1910 over

80 cities

!   1870-1920—11 million Americans left farms/rural villages for cities

!   Problems of urbanization and industrialization appeared: poor and overcrowded housing, unsanitary conditions, low pay, difficult working conditions, and inadequate restraints on business.

The Late Nineteenth Century is Also Referred to as…

!   Mark Twain called the late nineteenth century the "Gilded Age." By this, he meant that the period was glittering on the surface but corrupt underneath.

$$$

!   Americans increasingly idealized progress and the self- made man.

!   Lots of wealth and self-made millionaires post-Civil War.

!   Railroads drive the creation of a corporate economy.

National Rail Networks 1918

What to do with all that money?

!   Art, education, entertainment, culture

!   The rise of MASS circulation of magazines/newspapers

!   Rise of advertising and consumer culture

!   Concerned with privilege/confinement/leisure

Literary Culture !   Profuse literary production and

consumption

!   Gas lighting/electrical lighting (1870s) gives more time for reading

!   WOMEN are the primary fiction audience at the time

!   First best-seller list published 1895

Local Colorists/Regional Writers: A sub-genre of Realism

!   Local Color/Regional writers emerged, depicting regional literature of select places in America, for example: New England towns.

!   What sets the colorists apart is their exclusive interest in representing a specific location, and their thoroughly factual, realistic technique.

Major Writers in These Genres Realists Colorists/Regional Writers

William Dean Howells Henry James Edward Bellamy Charles Chesnutt Mark Twain Kate Chopin Theodore Dreiser Edith Wharton

Sarah Orne Jewett Bret Harte Mark Twain Harriet Beecher Stowe Kate Chopin

Videos

!   The Literary Realism Movement: A Response to Romanticism: http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/the-literary-realism-movement-a-response-to-romanticism.html#lesson 6 min

!   Regional Realism: http://www.learner.org/vod/vod_window.html?pid=1744 28min

!   Social Realism: http://www.learner.org/vod/vod_window.html?pid=1745 28min

Sources Cited

!   McCann, Sean. "First Day GLSP." Wesleyan University. Middletown. 2 July 2012. Lecture.

! Mintz, S. (2012). Learn about the Gilded Age. Digital History. Retrieved

July 27 2012 from http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/modules/

gilded_age/index.cfm

! VanSpanckeren, Kathryn. "The Outline of American Literature." The Rise of Realism 1860-1914. . Revised Edition. United States Department of State, 1994. 47-51. Print.