The Age of Realism

The Literature of the Late Nineteenth Century

The Age of Realism: Marked by the End of the Civil War: 1861-1865 1861 Cost of the Civil War
The Human Cost
1,094,543 Casualties The North lost one out of ten
110,100 in battle 224,580 to disease

The South lost one out of four

94,000 in battle 64,000 to disease

Two percent of US population died in the Civil War, with only WWII claiming more lives;

Economic Cost
Estimated at 6.6 billion, which would be 165 billion today

By the end of the Civil War

The Emancipation Proclamation and 13th Amendment had abolished slavery The industrial North had defeated the agrarian South Social order grew based on mass labor and mass consumption;
Steam power replaced water power Machines replaced hand labor

The Industrial Revolution had begun

The Effects of The Industrial Revolution

Migration from rural to urban areas Independent, skilled workers replaced by semi-skilled laborers; semi Large corporations were established, devaluing the personal relationship between management and workers or company and customers.

Political Upheaval
Political power shifted to the laboring classes; Political patronage and graft caused civic corruption; The power of the federal government expanded during the Civil War;
National conscription laws; Federal income taxes levied; Paper money backed by federal government rather than individual states issued.

Mass Communication and Migration

Coast-to-coast communication Coast-to Pony Express (1860)10 days (1860) Telegraph (1861)just seconds to (1861) communicate across country Transatlantic telegraph cable (1866) allowed instant communicate with Europe Telephone patented (1867) By 1900, 1.3 million telephones in U.S. Coast-toCoast-to-coast travel Transcontinental Railroad (1869) By 1889, coast-to-coast travel4 coast-totravel days

Intellectual Revolution: Changes in Thinking brought about by Changes in Society

Changes in science Changes in psychology Changes in philosophy

From these social changes come two literary movements

Realism,
first begun as the local color movement

Naturalism

Realism
Begins in France, as realisme, a literary doctrine calling for reality and truth in the depiction of ordinary life.
Grounded in the belief that there is an objective reality which can be portrayed with truth and accuracy as the goal; The writer does not select facts in accord with preconceived ideals, but rather sets down observations impartially and objectively.

A Reaction against Romanticism

These authors sought to portray life as they saw it, insisting that the ordinary and local were just as suitable for art as the sublime.
Nothing more and nothing less than the truthful treatment of material. William Dean Howells

Realism began in America as Local Color

A synthesis of romantic plots and realistic descriptions of things; Definition of Local Color:
Literature that focuses on the characters, dialect, customs, topography, and other features particular to a specific region that exploits the speech, dress, mannerisms, and habits of that specific region .

Characteristics of Local Color

Settingoften remote and usually integral Setting to the story; Charactersmore concerned with the Characters character of the region than an individual individual quaint, stereotypical;
Narrator-- an educated observer from the Narrator-world beyond whos often deceived Emphasis on dialect Use of stock characters

Plotnothing much happens, revolves Plot around the community and its rituals

Themes in Local Color

Dislike of change, nostalgia for an alwaysalways-past Golden Age; Triumphant trickster or trickster tricked; Tall tale-tradition, conflicts taledescribed humorously, larger than life

Characteristics of Realism
Subject matterordinary people and events; matter PurposeVerisimilitude, the truthful Purpose representation of life; Point of Viewomniscient and objective View Charactersmiddle class, psychological realism Characters Plot de-emphasized de Focus on everyday life Complex ethical choices often the subject Events are made to seem the inevitable result of characters choices

Themes in Realism
Humans control their destinies
characters act on their environment rather than simply reacting to it.

Slice-of-life technique Slice-of often ends without traditional formal closure, leaving much untold to suggest mans limited ability to make sense of his life.

Naturalism: A Harsher Realism

Definition: A literature that depicts social problems and views humans as victims of larger biological, psychological and social and economic forces.
Scientific determinism Psychological determinism Historical determinism

Scientific, Biological or Darwinian Determinism

Man has no direct control over who or what he is. His fate is determined by outside forces that can be discovered through scientific inquiry; Humans respond to environmental forces and internal stresses and drives, none of which can be fully controlled or understood
People are driven by fundamental urges like fear, hunger, sex The world is a competitive jungle,

Psychological Determinism
Man is a victim of his inner and subconscious self (Freud).

Historical Determinism
Historical or sociosocioeconomic determinism (Marx): the world is a battleground of economic and social forces;

Objectives of Naturalism
Presentation is objective and detached Subject matterraw and unpleasant matter experiences which reduce people to degrading circumstances in order to survive; Setting commonplace and un-heroic un Novelist discovers qualities in lower class characters usually associated with heroes
Suggestion that life on lowest levels is more complicated

Themes in Naturalism
Man is fundamentally an animal, without free will; Governed by determinism
External and internal forces, environment or heredity control behavior; Characters have compensating humanistic values which affirm life; Struggle for life becomes heroic and affirms human dignity

Pessimistic view of human capabilitieslife capabilities is a trap

The Ultimate Problem in Realism

Whose reality is portrayed?
Those in power, usually male, white and privileged

Whose reality is marginalized and ignored?

Those without power: women, people of color, people of lower economic means