American Realism, Regionalism, and Naturalism: Capturing the Truthful Treatment of Material

1. American Realism, Regionalism, and Local Color 1860-1914 (about)

2. “Realism is nothing more and nothing less than the truthful treatment of material.” –William Dean Howells

3. What is Realism? • An approach that attempts to describe life without idealization or romantic subjectivity • Emphasis on development of believable characters. • Prominent from 1860-1914.

5. Why did Realism develop? • The Civil War • The growing urbanization, industrialization, and capitalism of America • The emerging middle class • Focus on scientific revolution: truth and knowledge based on empirical data • As a reaction to Romanticism

6. A Look at the Literature: • Wanted to paint an extremely accurate picture of life  “verisimilitude” • Believable plots, settings, and characters • Characters more important than plot • Characters are lower or middle-class • Lots of imagery and concrete details to make the work seem more realistic and believable • Vernacular  Regional dialects and extensive dialogue (local color)

7. A Look at the Literature: • Objectivity and neutrality • Social awareness and critique of society/institutions • Wrote about the common, and everyday life; topics included poverty, slums, factories, prostitution, corrupt politicians • Tone often comic, satiric, or matter-of-fact (wanted to instruct and entertain)

8. What is Regionalism? • Often called “local color.” • Focuses on characters, speech (dialect), setting, customs, dress, living/working conditions, and other features specific to a certain region (eg. the South) • Coincided with Realism and shares many of the same traits.

9. Why did Regionalism develop? • Resistance to see local culture lost with the changing face of America • An outgrowth of realism with more focus on a particular setting and its influence over characters • Combined influence of Realism, Romanticism, and the building of a national identity

10. Points to Remember… • Realism, Regionalism, and Naturalism are intertwined and connected. • They are truly American modes of writing  they attempt to capture America as it really is

11. What is Naturalism? • Applied scientific principles of objectivity and detachment to the study of human beings. • Influenced by Darwinism (natural selection) and psychology (Freud) • Posited that men were governed by heredity and environment. • Often depict man in conflict with nature, society, or himself. • Prominent from 1880-1920(ish)

12. Naturalist Writers • Stephen Crane • Ambrose Bierce • Jack London • Edwin Arlington Robinson • Katherine Anne Porter • Charlotte Perkins Gilman • Edith Wharton

13. Why did Naturalism develop? • The swell of immigrants in the latter half of the 19th century, which led to a larger lower class and increased poverty in the cities • The prominence of psychology and the theories of Sigmund Freud • Pessimism in the wake of the Civil War and Reconstruction • Publication of Charles Darwin’s Origin of the Species