AMERICAN REALISM (1870-1910)
- The aftermath of the Civil War – the violence and the casualties leave deep marks on the collective consciousness;
- Increased immigration after the Civil War;
- Segregation between black and white people;
- Industrial Revolution in the North;
- The South continues to rely on agriculture.
ECONOMY AND SOCIETY:
- Massive immigration from Europe and China;
- Business expands;
- A transport network develops to stimulate trade. Roads, railways, and steamboats are built;
- Technological inventions: mass production of motorcars (Henry Ford); the invention of the telephone (Alexander Graham Bell -1876);
- By the end of the 19th century, the USA had become a huge, modern, industrialized nation.
IDEOLOGY AND CULTURE:
Literary trend: REALISM
Principles of Realism:
- normal situations and ordinary characters are described in familiar settings;
- attention to detail;
- description based on experience, not imagination;
- lower strata of society are emphasized;
- very little use of metaphors.
Realistic novel traits (the novel is the best form of expression for realism, as it describes the world faithfully and doesn’t idealize it):
- Major theme: the place of the individual in society;
- Long, dense, with complicated plots;
- Physical descriptions of characters are realistic;
- Lots of characters, most of them belong to the middle and lower classes;
- A new type of character: the one who transcends social barriers through marriage, hard work, or legacies. Characters are motivated by greed, lust, and confusion.
Literary trend: NATURALISM
Principles of Naturalism:
- It is an intensified form of realism that depicts a grim reality;
- Nature is an indifferent force that acts on the lives of human beings;
- Heredity and environment are the forces that affect and afflict individual lives;
- The universe is indifferent and deterministic.
The Naturalist character:
- Characters reveal the “brute” within; they often combine strong and warring emotions;
- The characters are inspired by the evolution theory; they are presented as human beings governed by instincts and passions;
- The characters’ lives are governed by the forces of heredity and environment;
- As they are “products” of nature, characters in Naturalism should be observed without moralizing about their nature.
- Realism and Naturalism are only represented in fiction;
- Mark Twain ̶ Realist fiction; travel books, evocative details, memorable characters;
- Henry James ̶ stems from Naturalist and Realist fiction and evolves into Modernist fiction; depiction of the psychological processes of the characters and their limited insights and emotions.