AMERICAN

REGIONALISM, REALISM,
AND NATURALISM
1860-1920(ISH)
HENRY JAMES
“..ANY POINT OF VIEW IS
INTERESTING THAT IS A
DIRECT IMPRESSION OF
LIFE.”
SIGNIFICANT DATES
• 1861-1865 Civil War
• 1865 Lincoln Assassinated, End of Civil War, 14th Amendment
grants freedom to all black Americans and grants them
citizenship
• 1876 Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone
• 1879 Thomas Edison invents the first light bulb
• 1881 Booker T Washington establishes the Tuskegee Institute,
the first college for black Americans
• 1886 Statue of Liberty
• 1901 First Transatlantic Wireless Message sent (Telegraph)
• 1914 World War I begins
• 1920 19th Amendment grants women the right to vote
WHAT IS REALISM?
• A faithful representation of
reality in literature, also known
as “verisimilitude.”
• Emphasis on development of
believable characters.
• Written in natural vernacular,
or dialect of everyday language.
• Prominent from 1860-1890 .
WHY DID REALISM DEVELOP?
• The Civil War
• The urbanization and industrialization
of America
• As a reaction to Romanticism
• Increasing rates of democracy and
literacy
• The emerging middle class
• Upheaval and social change in the latter
half of the 19th century
WHAT IS REGIONALISM?
• Often called “local color.”
• Focuses on characters, dialect,
customs, topography, and other
features specific to a certain
region (eg. the South)
• Coincided with Realism and
sharing many of the same traits.
• Prominent from 1865-1895.
WHY DID REGIONALISM
DEVELOP?
• Dual influence of Romanticism
and Realism
• The Civil War and the building of
a national identity
• An outgrowth of realism with
more focus on a particular setting
and its influence over characters
WHAT IS NATURALISM?
• Applied scientific principles of
objectivity and detachment to the
study of human beings.
• Influenced by Darwinism (natural
selection) and psychology (Freud)
• Posited that men were governed by
heredity and environment.
• Often depict man in conflict with
nature, society, or himself.
• Prominent from 1880-1920(ish)
NATURALIST WRITERS
Stephen Crane
Ambrose Bierce
Jack London
Edwin Arlington
Robinson
Katherine Anne
Porter
Charlotte Perkins
Gilman
Edith Wharton
WHY DID NATURALISM
DEVELOP?
• The swell of immigrants in the latter
half of the 19th century, which led to a
larger lower class and increased
poverty in the cities
• The prominence of psychology and the
theories of Sigmund Freud
• Pessimism in the wake of the Civil War
and Reconstruction
• Publication of Charles Darwin’s Origin
of the Species
POINTS TO REMEMBER…
• Realism, Regionalism, and
Naturalism are intertwined and
connected.
• Their influence has dominated
most literature created since 1920,
though the movement itself is
dated to roughly that point.
• They are truly American modes of
writing.
FAMOUS WRITERS DURING THIS TIME
Kate Chopin—South
Mary E. Wilkins-
Freeman—New
England
Mark Twain—West
Willa Cather—
Midwest
 MARK TWAIN
PSEUDONYM FOR
“SAMUEL LANGHORNE CLEMENS”
• First work: “Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras
County”
• Most Famous :The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• Known for multiple writing styles
•Burlesque
•Tall Tale
•Satire
•Dialect
He was known for celebrating
funny realistic dialogue
fold legends
extraordinary characters
local scenery
the YOKEL
 KATE CHOPIN

• Gained popularity posthumously.

• Father owned a plantation on the Red River in New
Orleans (sound familiar? Where have we heard
this?)
• Known for writing her stories in one sitting in one
day.
• Themes:
• The past haunting the present
• Women’s oppression
CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILLMAN