American Realism

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American Realism

• 1865-1915

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• Rapid expansion in population, settlement of the
  West, transportation, communication and curiosity
  about people living in other regions, especially
  in the Midwest and the Far West

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• Rise of industrialism-Twains Gilded Age

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• Writers turned away from Romanticism and strove
  to portray life as it was actually lived

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• Realism slice of life a movement which sought
  to depict real life as faithfully and accurately
  as possible and focused on the lives of ordinary
  people

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• Naturalism a movement that went one step further
  by showing life as the inexorable working out of
  natural forces beyond our power to control

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• Regionalism literature that emphasizes a
  specific geographic setting and that makes use of
  the speech and manners of the people who live
  there (also called local color writing)