Part IV -1: Realism － Age of American Fiction

Part IV -1: Realism－Age of American Fiction

I. Overview Understanding Realism as a major concept A. Realism is the reaction against Romanticism. B. Period concept Vs. Writing style Realism – 2nd half of 19th century Romanticism –1st half of the 19th century *Literary history means a process of new movement replacing the old. *One theory dominates literary field because of critical social changes.

1. Background A. Differences / Conflicts between— 1) East Vs. West culturally mature East Vs. materially expanding and culturally raw West people: the long tradition / the newly rich 2) North Vs. South political: industrial ideal (Hamilton’s Republic / Jefferson’s Democrats) B. Development of imperialism & Emergence of monopoly capitalism C. Civil War (1861-1865)—fighting and cultural exchange

2. Definition and Major Features A. Meaning of Realism: fidelity (faithful) to actuality (real) reality － protest against the falseness and sentimentality in Romanticism B. Features 1) truthful treatment of the materials; relying not the imagination only but the organization of factual things; 2) characterization is more important than plot; 4) commonness of the lives of common people (used to be ignored by artists, who preferred to celebrate nice characters or landscapes in romanticism); 5) emphasize objectivity; 6) moral vision － conformists to social moral standards Who’s entitled to the decision of right or wrong?

II. William Dean Howells (1837-1920)－ the Champion of American Realism

1. Life - - A life of successful editor (a story of self-made success); the beginning of his career; - A strong supporter of young writers; - Genial and modest but tough-minded and forthright (like his style in criticism and writing); A. an energetic critic － 1,700 book reviews (expounding the principles of realism)

2. Literary Achievement A. An energetic and prolific writer – 1700 book reviews, expounding the principles of realism B. He laid down the guidelines for American Realism, especially fiction writing. • Fiction should be objective; • Fiction should be dramatization of ordinary people; • Fiction should speak the language of actual people; • Fiction should be truthful to the recent time and the local

Howells “Four Main Points” 1. the commonplace rather than the unusual offers the best material for fiction; 2. character is more important than plot; 3.the writer should reveal the good in life as more real than the evil; 4. realism is the expression of democracy and, therefore, peculiarly suitable as an American method

C. a versatile writer – over 100 books; 38 novels social novels— focusing on the rising middle-class (realism should be confronting the moral and material problems of society) • A Modem Instance (1882) , • A Woman's Reason (1883) , • The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885) - a story of decline of material life but rise in morality • A Hazard of New Fortunes (1889)

III. O. Henry (William Sydney Porter )(1862-1910)

1. life 2. Literary Achievements A. Twisted stories and “the surprising ending” B. popularity (readers) Vs. literary value (academic) C. “The Cop and the Anthem”

IV. Henry James (1843-1916)

1. Life A. born with no worry for life burden; raised and trained to be an elite; B. escaped military services during the Civil War because of some vague back injury; Harvard school boy; turned to an author’s life instead of a lawyer's; C. never married, remaining an observer rather than participant (which is important for a realist); D. became a British subject in protesting America's refusal to enter WWI.

2. literary Career A. Three stages of writing • the international novel a. European—traditional, more cultured; concerned with arts, social status, corrupted/ American— traditionless, innocent; exuberant; b. Sophistication Vs. Idealism; interplay between experience and innocence • The American (1877) • Daisy Miller (1879) • The Portrait of a Lady( 1881)

2) experimental novels (ghost stories; troubled writers and artists; the doomed and threatened children and adolescents) • The Turn of the Screw (1898) • The Beast in the Jungle (1903)

The Turn of the Screw • "the most hopelessly evil story that we have ever read in any literature, ancient or modern." The story begins around the fire: I can see Douglas there before the fire, to which he had got up to present his back, looking down at his interlocutor with his hands in his pockets. “Nobody but me, till now, has ever heard. It's quite too horrible.” This, naturally, was declared by several voices to give the thing the utmost price, and our friend, with quiet art, prepared his triumph by turning his eyes over the rest of us and going on: “It's beyond everything. Nothing at all that I know touches it.”

“For sheer terror?” I remember asking. He seemed to say it was not so simple as that; to be really at a loss how to qualify it. He passed his hand over his eyes, made a little wincing grimace. “For dreadfuldreadfulness!” 'Oh, how delicious!' cried one of the women. He took no notice of her; he looked at me, but as if, instead of me, he saw what he spoke of. “For general uncanny ugliness and horror and pain.' “Well then,' I said, 'just sit right down and begin.”

“For sheer terror?” I remember asking. He seemed to say it was not so simple as that; to be really at a loss how to qualify it. He passed his hand over his eyes, made a little wincing grimace. “For dreadfuldreadfulness!” 'Oh, how delicious!' cried one of the women. He took no notice of her; he looked at me, but as if, instead of me, he saw what he spoke of. “For general uncanny ugliness and horror and pain.' “Well then,' I said, 'just sit right down and begin.” … "I remember the time and the place the corner of the lawn, the shade of the great beeches and the long, hot summer afternoon. It wasn't a scene for a shudder; but oh!' He quitted the fire and dropped back into his chair."

2) experimental novels (ghost stories; troubled writers and artists; the doomed and threatened children and adolescents) 3) Return to international theme － a mature stage; formal, ambiguous, refined but sometimes too difficult to comprehend; The Wings of the Dove (1902), The Ambassadors (1903), The Golden Bowl (1904) * “grand theme of freedom through perception: only awareness of one’s own character and others’ provides the Wisdom to live well.”

3. Major Subjects A. Children － about children as children, not as adults child psychology: how they react to family problems? children think differently, not any less valid than adults; B. New woman － independent women with independent jobs; not as a sexual subjects, but a representative of culture and refinement; C. Artist － how the artist thinks about his audience; how to decide what to write about

4. Theory of Fiction － The Art of Fiction (1884), a great contribution to the literary critical terms A. attitude of a novelist: faithful to life and his materials B. freedom of choosing subjects C. the novel as an organic whole; the author as an outsider D. dramatization E. Central consciousness F. Psychological realism G. Ambiguity

* Henry James Vs. W. D. Howells a. the upper social life Vs. the middle-class life b. psychological realism Vs. genteel realism

V. Sherwood Anderson (1876-1941)

1. life -poor childhood; mentally troubled -“wealthy” marriage; a successful businessman -writing stories to kill time and to avoid business life; -suffer from serious mental problems; sudden disappearance from home and appeared in Chicago and joined the “Chicago Renaissance” -became a fulltime writer

2. Literary Career A. Winesburg, Ohio (1919) * “All human life is grotesque in some way.” a collection of 23 short stories －alienation, repression, frustration by intolerable social and industrial systems B. Style: simple, direct, easy , and almost conversational C. psychological writing exploring the motivations and frustrations of his fictional characters in terms of Freudianism; best known for portraying life in small towns in Mid-western America

*Sherwood Anderson Vs. Henry James A. Language B. Different uses of humor: Humor to amuse people Vs. Satirical device to criticize C. Psychological fiction

Part IV -1: Realism － Age of American Fiction