Realism Period of American Literature 1865 - 1900 - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Realism Period of American Literature 1865 - 1900

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Realism Period of American Literature 1865 - 1900 CHARACTERISTICS of REALISM Life presented with fidelity in presenting the inner workings of the mind. – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Realism Period of American Literature 1865 - 1900


1
Realism Period of American Literature1865 -
1900
2
CHARACTERISTICS of REALISM
  • Life presented with fidelity in presenting the
    inner workings of the mind.
  • There is an analysis of thought and feelings in
    realism.
  • The environment has a function in shaping of
    characters.
  • The setting is generally in the present or recent
    past.
  • There is frequent use of colloquial speech.
    Diction is natural vernacular, not heightened or
    poetic tone may be comic, satiric, or
    matter-of-fact.
  • Characters are of the middle and low classes.

3
  • Realist writers exposed political corruption,
    economic inequity, business deception, the
    exploitation of labor, women rights problems,
    racial inequity
  • Realist often describe the relationship between
    the economic transformation of America and its
    moral condition.
  • We see in realism the introduction of a new kind
    of characters
  •     Industrial workers and rural poor
  •    Ambitious businessman and vagrants
  •    Prostitutes
  •    Unheroic soldiers

4
REGIONAL WRITING (Local Color)
  • There is a desire by Realist writers to preserve
    distinctive ways of life before industrialization
    dispersed or homogenized them.
  • Realist writers wrote about coming to terms with
    the harsh realities of the new times.
  • The rapid growth of magazines creating a new,
    largely female audience for short fiction.
  • Many Local Colorists (realistic female writers)
    described a patriarchal society from female
    perspective.

5
Definition of Realism
  • Realism is the post civil war literary movement
    between 1865-1900.
  • Realism directly opposes the previous movement
    Romanticism. It focuses on the harsh realities of
    life and gives the reader a true sense of local
    color. Which is the fictional recreation of the
    authors own experiences.
  • Realism renders reality closely and in
    comprehensive detail. Selective presentation of
    reality with an emphasis on verisimilitude,
    Character is more important than action and plot
    and complex ethical choices are often the
    subject.

6
Realist Writers
  • Mark Twain  (18351910)
  • Henry James   (1843 1916)
  • William Dean Howells   (1837 1920)
  •  
  • Local Color
  • Sarah Orne Jewett  (1849 1909)
  • Kate Chopin   (1851 1904)
  • Bret Harte  (1836 1902)
  • Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860 1935)
  •  
  • Poetry
  •  
  • Edward Arlington Robinson (1869 1935)
  • Robert Frost   (1874 1963)
  • Carl Sandburg   (1878 1967)

7
The Realism Period (1865-1900)
  • Incorporates a difficult time in American
    history, with the Civil War, industrialization,
    Reconstruction, urbanization, and more. In
    American literature, famous writers like Charles
    W. Chesnutt, Stephen Crane, Henry James, Mark
    Twain, and Edith Wharton were presenting a more
    realistic view of life in their works of
    literature.

8
In American literature, the term "realism"
encompasses the period of time from the Civil War
to the turn of the century during which William
Dean Howells, Rebecca Harding Davis, Henry James,
Mark Twain, and others wrote fiction devoted to
accurate representation and an exploration of
American lives in various contexts. As the United
States grew rapidly after the Civil War, the
increasing rates of democracy and literacy, the
rapid growth in industrialism and urbanization,
an expanding population base due to immigration,
and a relative rise in middle-class affluence
provided a fertile literary environment for
readers interested in understanding these rapid
shifts in culture. In drawing attention to this
connection.
9
  • Broadly defined as "the faithful representation
    of reality" or "verisimilitude," realism is a
    literary technique practiced by many schools of
    writing. Realism is a technique that denotes a
    particular kind of subject matter, especially the
    representation of middle-class life. There is a
    revolt against against romanticism, an interest
    in scientific method, the systematizing of the
    study of documentary history, and the influence
    of rational philosophy, all affected the rise of
    realism.

10
  • Realism is nothing more and nothing less than the
    truthful treatment of material.
  • William Dean Howells
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