Teaching Tools--Realism vs. Naturalism

Summary

The last half of the nineteenth century was a time of major development for an American national literature. New writers emerged from new areas of the country, new types of characters were introduced drawn from previously unrepresented arenas of American life--factory workers, prostitutes, unheroic soldiers. This new trend of realism focused on ordinary people and everyday places portrayed through detailed observation and description.

Writers of this period are often classified as realists, naturalists, regional writers, and local color writers. Are these useful terms to introduce to a literature class or are they generalized labels that conceal more than they convey?

Suggested Readings

Charles Darwin	The Origin of Species (excerpt)	-hypothesis of evolution alters views of human relation to environment
Rebecca Harding Davis	Life in the Iron Mills	-precursor of realism
Mark Twain	Huckleberry Finn	-detailed depictions of people and surroundings -use of vernacular speech -along with Howell and James, set stage for modern fiction
William Dean Howells	The Rise of Silas Lapham	-called for literary realism that portrayed regular Americans truthfully
Henry James	Portrait of a Lady	-called a psychological realist, a realist of the inner life
Sarah Orne Jewett	Country of the Pointed Firs	-realistic portrayals of Maine people and villages; optimistic portrayals of women's fortitude in the face of a harsh life -termed local colorist
Kate Chopin	The Awakening	-termed local colorist -realist
Mary Wilkins Freeman	"Old Woman Magoun"	-naturalist; pessimistically depicted realities of constraints on women
Frank Norris	McTeague
Hamlin Garland	Main Travelled Roads	-wrote about bleak realities of Midwestern farmers.
Stephen Crane	The Red Badge of Courage; The Open Boat; The Blue Hotel	-views nature as not necessarily hostile, but indifferent;
Jack London
Willa Cather
Theodore Dreiser	Sister Carrie	-landmark in naturalistic fiction -explores American response to the new metropolis
Sui Sin Far	Mrs. Spring Fragrance	-stories depict daily lives of Chinese families in western US