Realism in American Literature, 1860-1890

Retrieved from http://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/realism.htm

Definitions

Broadly defined as "the faithful representation of reality" or "verisimilitude," realism is a literary technique practiced by many
schools of writing. Although strictly speaking, realism is a technique, it also denotes a particular kind of subject matter,
especially the representation of middle-class life. A reaction 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.
According to William Harmon and Hugh Holman, "Where romanticists transcend the immediate to find the ideal, and
naturalists plumb the actual or superficial to find the scientific laws that control its actions, realists center their attention to a
remarkable degree on the immediate, the here and now, the specific action, and the verifiable consequence" (A Handbook to
Literature 428).

Many critics have suggested that there is no clear distinction between realism and its related late nineteenth-century
movement, naturalism. As Donald Pizer notes in his introduction to The Cambridge Companion to American Realism and
Naturalism: Howells to London, the term "realism" is difficult to define, in part because it is used differently in European
contexts than in American literature. Pizer suggests that "whatever was being produced in fiction during the 1870s and 1880s
that was new, interesting, and roughly similar in a number of ways can be designated as realism, and that an equally new,
interesting, and roughly similar body of writing produced at the turn of the century can be designated as naturalism" (5). Put
rather too simplistically, one rough distinction made by critics is that realism espousing a deterministic philosophy and
focusing on the lower classes is considered naturalism.

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, Amy Kaplan has
called realism a "strategy for imagining and managing the threats of social change" (Social Construction of American
Realism).

Realism was a movement that encompassed the entire country, or at least the Midwest and South, although many of the
writers and critics associated with realism (notably W. D. Howells) were based in New England.

Characteristics (from Richard Chase, The American Novel and Its Tradition)

 Renders reality closely and in comprehensive detail. Selective presentation of reality with an emphasis on
verisimilitude, even at the expense of a well-made plot
 Character is more important than action and plot; complex ethical choices are often the subject.
 Characters appear in their real complexity of temperament and motive; they are in explicable relation to nature, to
each other, to their social class, to their own past.
 Class is important; the novel has traditionally served the interests and aspirations of an insurgent middle class. (See
Ian Watt, The Rise of the Novel)
 Events will usually be plausible. Realistic novels avoid the sensational, dramatic elements of naturalistic novels and
romances.
 Diction is natural vernacular, not heightened or poetic; tone may be comic, satiric, or matter-of-fact.

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  Objectivity in presentation becomes increasingly important: overt authorial comments or intrusions diminish as the
century progresses.
 Interior or psychological realism a variant form.
 In Black and White Strangers, Kenneth Warren suggests that a basic difference between realism and sentimentalism is
that in realism, "the redemption of the individual lay within the social world," but in sentimental fiction, "the
redemption of the social world lay with the individual" (75-76).

The realism of James and Twain was critically acclaimed in twentieth century; Howellsian realism fell into disfavor as part of
early twentieth century rebellion against the "genteel tradition."

Regionalism and Local Color Fiction, 1865-1895

Retrieved from http://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/lcolor.html

Local color or regional literature is fiction and poetry that focuses on the characters, dialect, customs, topography, and other
features particular to a specific region. Influenced by Southwestern and Down East humor, between the Civil War and the
end of the nineteenth century this mode of writing became dominant in American literature. According to the Oxford
Companion to American Literature, "In local-color literature one finds the dual influence of romanticism and realism, since
the author frequently looks away from ordinary life to distant lands, strange customs, or exotic scenes, but retains through
minute detail a sense of fidelity and accuracy of description" (439). Its weaknesses may include nostalgia or sentimentality.
Its customary form is the sketch or short story, although Hamlin Garland argued for the novel of local color.

Regional literature incorporates the broader concept of sectional differences, although in Writing Out of Place, Judith
Fetterley and Marjorie Pryse have argued convincingly that the distinguishing characteristic that separates "local color"
writers from "regional" writers is instead the exploitation of and condescension toward their subjects that the local color
writers demonstrate.

One definition of the difference between realism and local color is Eric Sundquist's: "Economic or political power can itself be
seen to be definitive of a realist aesthetic, in that those in power (say, white urban males) have been more often judged
'realists,' while those removed from the seats of power (say, Midwesterners, blacks, immigrants, or women) have been
categorized as regionalists." See also the definition from the Encyclopedia of Southern Literature.

Many critics, including Amy Kaplan ("Nation, Region, and Empire" in the Columbia Literary History of the United States) and
Richard Brodhead (Cultures of Letters), have argued that this literary movement contributed to the reunification of the
country after the Civil War and to the building of national identity toward the end of the nineteenth century. According to
Brodhead, "regionalism's representation of vernacular cultures as enclaves of tradition insulated from larger cultural contact
is palpably a fiction . . . its public function was not just to mourn lost cultures but to purvey a certain story of contemporary
cultures and of the relations among them" (121). In chronicling the nation's stories about its regions and mythical origins,
local color fiction through its presence--and, later, its absence--contributed to the narrative of unified nationhood that late
nineteenth-century America sought to construct.

Setting: The emphasis is frequently on nature and the limitations it imposes; settings are frequently remote and inaccessible.
The setting is integral to the story and may sometimes become a character in itself.

Characters: Local color stories tend to be concerned with the character of the district or region rather than with the
individual: characters may become character types, sometimes quaint or stereotypical. The characters are marked by their
adherence to the old ways, by dialect, and by particular personality traits central to the region. In women's local color fiction,
the heroines are often unmarried women or young girls.

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Narrator: The narrator is typically an educated observer from the world beyond who learns something from the characters
while preserving a sometimes sympathetic, sometimes ironic distance from them. The narrator serves as mediator between
the rural folk of the tale and the urban audience to whom the tale is directed.

Plots. It has been said that "nothing happens" in local color stories by women authors, and often very little does happen.
Stories may include lots of storytelling and revolve around the community and its rituals.

Themes: Many local color stories share an antipathy to change and a certain degree of nostalgia for an always-past golden
age. A celebration of community and acceptance in the face of adversity characterizes women's local color fiction. Thematic
tension or conflict between urban ways and old-fashioned rural values is often symbolized by the intrusion of an outsider or
interloper who seeks something from the community.

 A White Heron by Sarah Orne Jewett

http://www.public.coe.edu/~theller/soj/awh/heron.htm

Questionnaire

Theme: the celebration of life - Sub-theme: the first step toward maturity

 Find examples of Local Color School literature: descriptions, language, etc.

 Setting: when and where does the story take place?
 What do you think the following symbolize? The cow – the heron – the sea – the tree
 Discussion points:
1. Why do Sylvia and Mrs Tilley react differently at the coming of a stranger?
2. Why is Sylvia horror-stricken when she hears the ornithologist’s whistle?
3. What is Sylvia’s first reaction when she hears of the ten-dollar reward?
4. What are Sylvia’s feelings toward the stranger?
5. Why does she climb the tree?
6. What is Sylvia’s moral conflict at the end of the story? What is its resolution?

Suggestion for the final exam: “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain

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 The Gilded Age
Retrieved from http://www.enotes.com/topics/gilded-age/critical-essays/gilded-age

Remembered as an era in American history characterized by great prosperity and industrial growth, the three decades
following the Civil War have often been referred to as “The Gilded Age,” so called in part because of the 1873 novel by Mark
Twain and Charles Dudley Warner entitled The Gilded Age. The satirical novel, written in just a few months and intended as a
caricature of the era, describes what the authors viewed as the greed and hypocrisy of American society and the folly of
countless numbers of ordinary citizens who firmly believed that some magical scheme would lead them to riches. As
articulated by Twain and Warner, the term “Gilded Age” refers primarily to the middle-class experience of the time, an
experience typified by what author Thorstein Veblen called “conspicuous consumption”—of dress, home décor, and all
material goods which were considered signs of “good taste.” Along with the increased aestheticism of the age, and perhaps
in direct response to it, developed more self-conscious literary criticism and realism.

The Gilded Age was characterized most significantly by the rapid industrialization that transformed the country from a
primarily rural and agriculturally-based republic whose citizens for the most part shared a belief in God, into an industrial and
urbanized nation whose values were changing rapidly due, in part, to increased wealth and to the ramifications of Charles
Darwin's theory of evolution. Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller and steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie—both of whom virtually
monopolized their respective industries—symbolized both the “self-made man” and the spirit of acquisition that dominated
the late nineteenth century. This “spirit” is what Twain and Warner criticized in The Gilded Age, drawing attention to the
artificial standards of taste attributed to the growing American bourgeoisie. As individual income levels increased due to such
factors as improved communications resulting from the introduction of the telephone, technological innovations such as
electricity, and rapid transportation via the new transcontinental railroads, many individuals—the “new rich”—could afford
to indulge in finer clothing (which had become cheaper and more accessible), home decorations (which were mass-
produced), and leisure activities that would previously have been considered impractical. The steam engine, the railroads,
and the industrial boom following the Civil War years produced the country's first moguls and monopolies and created a
collective dream both at home and abroad of self-made fortunes and streets “lined with gold.”

But all that glittered was not gold. Economic change came unpredictably. In 1873-78, 1883-85, and again in 1893-97, the
nation experienced serious economic depressions. African-Americans, betrayed by the false promises of Reconstruction,
were subjugated in new and more subtle ways. Black Americans in the South were subject to Jim Crow laws (legal
segregation sanctioned by the Supreme Court). These laws were often enforced with violent methods involving torture and
lynchings. The North, too, was not entirely committed to racial equality: blacks there were typically relegated to subservient
and subordinate roles. Critic James H. Dormon, studying the “coon song craze” of the late nineteenth century, has found that
these immensely popular songs, which depicted stereotypical caricatures of black Americans, reflected the nationwide
feeling that blacks should be held in subordinate and segregated positions in society. According to Dormon, these songs
rationalized white America's perception of blacks not only as silly buffoons, but also as dangers to the existing social
structure. Black Americans were not the only ones to suffer hardships during this period; many farmers lost their holdings as
railroads and new machinery lowered their crop prices. Cities became crowded with immigrants eager to succeed but whose
only real opportunity was to provide an endless supply of cheap labor. In short, the chasm between rich and poor seemed
greater and more visible than ever.

The development of literature at the time reflects this division. Both “low-brow” and “high-brow” forms thrived, and so did
artistic snobbery. For the first time in American history, art received critical attention for art's sake. Largely due to the
support and example of William Dean Howells, one of the most influential writers of the late nineteenth century, authors like
Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), Stephen Crane, and Henry James turned their attention to realistically depicting human
behavior and social experience. Crane and Twain often went further in focusing on a new and more “realistic” subject matter

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—the experience of those who were not part of the middle class that so defined the standards of their age. The era also saw
the emergence of regional literature, typified by the New England fiction of Sarah Orne Jewett and the vernacular dialect in
Joel Chandler Harris's Uncle Remus stories and George Washington Cable's Creole tales. Several critics have suggested that
this type of literature flourished during the latter part of the nineteenth century in part because these “local colorists” sought
to preserve these distinctive modes of life before they were swallowed up by industrialization.

America experienced an industrial revolution later than England but more rapidly. The concentrated shift from homogenous,
rural populations to diversified, urban ones created crowding and poverty, yet the industrial elites enjoyed a new wealth and
urbane lifestyle that allowed for increased cultivation of the arts. Advances in machinery and transportation destroyed the
old dream of agrarian self-sufficiency yet allowed for the mass production and accessibility of both necessities and luxuries. It
was a time of great division, as well as a time of significant instability and anxiety, as many saw and lamented the
replacement of religious and moral values with materialistic ones. Critic Paulette D. Kilmer, examining the “rags-to-riches”
model in late nineteenth-century literature, has suggested that a great portion of Gilded Age literature is still closely tied to
religious values. In these tales, as Kilmer has stated, a young protagonist often aids a wealthy benefactor, whose gratitude in
turn enables the youngster to rise to the middle class. The tales offer evidence of benevolence—rather than a “quick fix”—as
the source of a young man's success. Howells, though, beginning with the novel The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885) and
continuing with the novel A Hazard of New Fortunes (1890), addressed what he saw as the dangerous relationship between
the economic growth of the United States and the corresponding decline of moral values under capitalism.

Naturalism in American Literature

Retrieved from http://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/natural.htm

The term naturalism describes a type of literature that attempts to apply scientific principles of objectivity and detachment to
its study of human beings. Unlike realism, which focuses on literary technique, naturalism implies a philosophical position: for
naturalistic writers, since human beings are, in Emile Zola's phrase, "human beasts," characters can be studied through their
relationships to their surroundings. Zola's 1880 description of this method in Le roman experimental (The Experimental
Novel, 1880) follows Claude Bernard's medical model and the historian Hippolyte Taine's observation that "virtue and vice
are products like vitriol and sugar"--that is, that human beings as "products" should be studied impartially, without
moralizing about their natures. Other influences on American naturalists include Herbert Spencer and Joseph LeConte.

Through this objective study of human beings, naturalistic writers believed that the laws behind the forces that govern
human lives might be studied and understood. Naturalistic writers thus used a version of the scientific method to write their
novels; they studied human beings governed by their instincts and passions as well as the ways in which the characters' lives
were governed by forces of heredity and environment. Although they used the techniques of accumulating detail pioneered
by the realists, the naturalists thus had a specific object in mind when they chose the segment of reality that they wished to
convey.

In George Becker's famous and much-annotated and contested phrase, naturalism's philosophical framework can be simply
described as "pessimistic materialistic determinism." Another such concise definition appears in the introduction to American
Realism: New Essays. In that piece,"The Country of the Blue," Eric Sundquist comments, "Revelling in the extraordinary, the
excessive, and the grotesque in order to reveal the immutable bestiality of Man in Nature, naturalism dramatizes the loss of
individuality at a physiological level by making a Calvinism without God its determining order and violent death its utopia".

A modified definition appears in Donald Pizer's Realism and Naturalism in Nineteenth-Century American Fiction, Revised
Edition (1984):

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[T]he naturalistic novel usually contains two tensions or contradictions, and . . . the two in conjunction comprise both an
interpretation of experience and a particular aesthetic recreation of experience. In other words, the two constitute the theme
and form of the naturalistic novel. The first tension is that between the subject matter of the naturalistic novel and the
concept of man which emerges from this subject matter. The naturalist populates his novel primarily from the lower middle
class or the lower class. . . . His fictional world is that of the commonplace and unheroic in which life would seem to be chiefly
the dull round of daily existence, as we ourselves usually conceive of our lives. But the naturalist discovers in this world those
qualities of man usually associated with the heroic or adventurous, such as acts of violence and passion which involve sexual
adventure or bodily strength and which culminate in desperate moments and violent death. A naturalistic novel is thus an
extension of realism only in the sense that both modes often deal with the local and contemporary. The naturalist, however,
discovers in this material the extraordinary and excessive in human nature.

The second tension involves the theme of the naturalistic novel. The naturalist often describes his characters as though they
are conditioned and controlled by environment, heredity, instinct, or chance. But he also suggests a compensating
humanistic value in his characters or their fates which affirms the significance of the individual and of his life. The tension
here is that between the naturalist's desire to represent in fiction the new, discomfiting truths which he has found in the
ideas and life of his late nineteenth-century world, and also his desire to find some meaning in experience which reasserts
the validity of the human enterprise. (10-11)

Characteristics:

Characters. Frequently but not invariably ill-educated or lower-class characters whose lives are governed by the forces of
heredity, instinct, and passion. Their attempts at exercising free will or choice are hamstrung by forces beyond their control;
social Darwinism and other theories help to explain their fates to the reader.

Setting. Frequently an urban setting.

Techniques and plots. Walcutt says that the naturalistic novel offers "clinical, panoramic, slice-of-life" drama that is often a
"chronicle of despair" (21).

Themes:

1.Walcutt identifies survival, determinism, violence, and taboo as key themes.

2. The "brute within" each individual, composed of strong and often warring emotions: passions, such as lust, greed, or the
desire for dominance or pleasure; and the fight for survival in an amoral, indifferent universe. The conflict in naturalistic
novels is often "man against nature" or "man against himself" as characters struggle to retain a "veneer of civilization"
despite external pressures that threaten to release the "brute within."

3. Nature as indifferent force acting on the lives of human beings. The romantic vision of Wordsworth--that "nature never did
betray the heart that loved her"--here becomes Stephen Crane's view in "The Open Boat": "This tower was a giant, standing
with its back to the plight of the ants. It represented in a degree, to the correspondent, the serenity of nature amid the
struggles of the individual--nature in the wind, and nature in the vision of men. She did not seem cruel to him then, or
beneficent, or treacherous, or wise. But she was indifferent, flatly indifferent."

4. The forces of heredity and environment as they affect--and afflict--individual lives.

5. An indifferent, deterministic universe. Naturalistic texts often describe the futile attempts of human beings to exercise free
will, often ironically presented, in this universe that reveals free will as an illusion.

 The Open Boat by Stephen Crane

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 https://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/the-open-boat.pdf

Questionnaire:

Theme: Man’s fate controlled and determined by the environment

1. Who are the four men struggling for their lives?

2. Where are they? Why is their situation preposterous?
3. What kind of relationship is there among them?
4. They try to conceal their private fears. Which fears? Quote.
5. Why is the verse from Bingem on the Rhine meaningful to the correspondent now?
6. Crane describes the boat as a bath-tub and a wild horse, the gulls as evil creatures, the seaweeds as hope and the
sharks as a biding thing. Find examples.
7. Compare Jewett and Crane’s depictions of nature.

Suggestion for the final exam: “The Red Badge of Courage” by Stephen Crane