Realisim Movement

By:
Muhamad Tarq & Yusuf Rashid
Definition of Realism
• Realism movement appeared at the late of nineteenth century. It was a
dramatic shift from the exotic and poetic Romanticism that dominated
the art world in the decades prior.

• Movement Origin:The realist movement in literature first developed in

France in the mid-nineteenth century, soon spreading to England,
Russia, and the United States
Some features of realism:
• The realistic authors focused on 2 main purposes: 1-Objective reality ,
they wanted to show the real situation at that time. 2-Giving details
about every things , for example at Pride and prejudice we can see
that how Jane Austen gives details about the way of dressing, culture ,
and the attitude of females at that time
• The reason of appearing this movement was a reaction of
romanticism , because as we all know the characteristics of
Romanticism which is imagination, individual, stay away from reality ,
this features created an imaginary situation of the society which
didn’t represent their reality , that’s how realism appeared.
Some features of realism
• Last feature is that we can notice realisim in novels more than any
other types of literature, because in novel the author has more to say
and the pages of novel since it’s too much so it allows the author to
write and gives a lot of details.
• Representative Authors:
• There are a number of authors who had a very good impact of
improving this movement and leading it into a better way we will
mention them very briefly:
• 1-Honare De Balzak 1812-1870 , Balzak is a french writer. He was one
of the most greatest novelists of 19th century, he has a lot of novels
Representative Authors
• His life work consists of a series of ninety novel and novellas
collectively entitled (La Comedie Humaine) the human comedy .
• 2- Charles Dickens 1812-1870, he is know as the master of the English
realist novel and one of the most celebrated and enduring novelist of
all time , his major novel is Oliver Twist 1836 .
• 3-William Dean Howells (1837-1920) considered the most important
American writer of 19th century. He is known of his best realistic
novels like , A modern instance 1882 , A hazard of new fortunes 1890.
Their style of writing
• Realistic writers used third person point of view or narrative
voice ,which means that the writer doesn’t participate in the
story ,but he knows everything and even the feelings of the
characters , they used this type , because in this type the writer is the
narrator so he is allow to say whatever he want. The aim of this is to
create an accurate portrayal of objective reality.
• Setting: means time and place of the novel, the writers of realism
didn’t follow one time and one place , since the wanted to show all of
the aspects of the society in past and present. Some times they used
historical settings , for example in A Tale Of Two cities set during the
French Revolution by Charles Dickens .
An example about realistic novel
• A Hazard of New Fortunes (1890), by the foremost American realist,
William Dean Howells, is regarded as one of the author’s most important
novels. A Hazard of New Fortunes takes place in New York City and
concerns a group of people trying to start a magazine. Howells was
inspired by his reading of Tolstoy’s War and Peace to write a long novel,
wide in scope and containimany characters. Th result includes fifteen
major characters and is notable for Howells’s depiction of many sectors
of society in New York City during the 1890s as well as his rendering of
the flow of life in a city teeming with people. Howells expressed strong
socialist views in A Hazard of New Fortunes, and many of the characters
represent differing points on the spectrum of American political opinion.