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North American Literature 6 de Febrero
20 th^ century realism in content and purpose
Realism.
American realism in Europe, critiques ask in american literature, what are the origin? As they care about the national origin in america and there were too many points of view.
- American realism is attached to a certain real evolution, a patriotic sense. Patriotic desire to reflect the American reality. Many became interested in realism in america, american patriotics reflected american realism. 1840s Realistic period in Europe. It was reinforced in Late 19th^ emerge the scientific discovers , different perception of reality. Science let a more confidence in individuals to face reality, improving guman conditions and relation with this reality.
- North American society F 0E 0 civil war. Victory of the North over the southern states. It supposed a change in economy. (Agriculture economy to Industrial economy, mostly in big cities) Everything became transformed. Second transformation F 0E 0 technology. However in contrast to this view, there is a less nationalistic version and it defends that in American is imitating a European version of realism.
Realism: 1 Past and present are discontinuous 2 The past can be rejected as without serious relevance to the present.
They were key elements of realism.Realism as a response to romanticism in contrast to subjectivity,subvertion to t he past, they had nothing to do with the past.
Realism denies the continuous of time. Psychological ideas: our own brain is unable to apprehend the total reality. When we want to remember anything for the past maybe you will change your perception. Second dimension: Civil war made American involved in the construction of a new nation. Nothing to do with the past,The final aim of this literature genre (two main aspects), the enormous interest in powerful things, comprehensible things, and particular things. Writers became interested in imitating nature and workings of nature. The second aspect: since the artist can not borrow his intelligent from the past now the writer wishes to study, to analyze his age, not old past, interested in the present. Since they are not interested in tradition, the new feeling is that everything cames from our genetic
information or tradition or accumulated events or cultural events, no longer relevants in realistic order.
the democratic revolution 1776. declaration of independencemm it was the first democratic nation in europe,england.Reality convenes objectivity.
En europe 1832 realism emerged in 1834 and it provided a new vision about role of man in society agains land lords, so individuals had more approach to reality, this is objective.new response to old methods of reality. Revelion was not revolution, a more contrastive view of what happened in the past.
Representative of realism in America: Mark Twain and Theodore Dreiser
Mark Twain: He is significant as he is considered a realistic writer. Becauuse of the characters, landscape..Social issues visible in his novels, but apparently he’s not so realistic because he was not social interested in big cities. Dreiser was the most realistic writer in eeuu.
Since both were fascinated by the social and political changes in America, moral a material progress in America and the new esthetic experiences. In short, both novelists were a response to social problems, but also realism provides a solution. The first solution was to reject the picturesque tradition (the idealistic American landscape, goodness found in nature) Separates past and present. Trascentalism: both nature and God will be reconsider, there will be not rejected but a new approach to both. A new religion in realism: contemporality. new aesthetic form is: Artistic form: a flat style, the plain style. Between writing and art there is no difference. Not a creative writer but imaginative writer. No methafors literary figures..and no distinction between art and life and artist is not an artist.Writers as social commentarors, attached to the role of analizing reality,when they present characters, and act as sicologos more than writers, becomings scientists.The role of analyzing reality. We are reading the psychology of this kids in Huckelberry Finn for example. In realism everything is clear. They never wrote essays on realism, however they wrote letters to each other (MT & TD) about the realism conscience in America., so no more imginative writers, now it is a reort of reality, it is easier to write than surrealissts writing, so we have to find out what is hidden, instead reality is clear.far from interpretation and closer to reality, as each of us have our own interpretation of reality. They were considered founders of realism in America. Two aspects, 1 Parodies the past style: of transcendentalist writers or post puritan writers. Rejection of any past style 2 Preference for Simple facts: reality assuage with no interpretation, simple facts.
Hector St. Jean de Crevecoeur he was a french no to close to englishman, he developed the same view and Thomas Jefferson, American was in an agrarian society. “Letters from an American farmer” Thomas Jefferson, founding father of the nation, theory of the American revolution, the main idea: American was a land free of lords.
Country was divided,south to spain, mid for france, north to rusia..so 4 nations.. Men should be attached to the land. They should be farmers. Agrarian society F 0E 0 interest in nature. People move from the countries to big cities. A change that altered the American life and their way of life. Jean is associated with the french part. American was an agrarian society. The farmers were no longer a reference for the modern man, the modern man lives in the city. The sons and daughter of this farmer abandoned them and went to cities, family separation. After the civil war america abandoned principles as people moved from country to city., which altered american mind and way of life. Writers continue interested in the essential America. Regionalism. Associated with the south, regionalism. writers were interested in local color, the diversity of american associated with the south .The perception: man had degraded, there was no illusion. A matter of perception: a new way of life. Agrarian society has been replaced by regionalism, which tends into F 0E 0 realism F 0E 0 naturalism.. Naturalism: most radical version of realism. Impose a new order, exploitation over human beings. How individuals were oppressed by the city life.
Man degraded, no illusion. And writers were idealising more than reality as such.
In any case there was a disillusion because men has left agrarian society and tend to a very oppressive society (fabrics, industrial way of life). Farmers continued with business and new way of life, a matter of perception.
In 19th^ still fascinated with new way of life and felt nostalgia for agrarian society.Man has left agrarian society and oppresive society, now industrial rev oppress them.
The role of men is just to survive through three ways criticized by writers: (^1) First the man survive through animal instincts (^2) To trust in God not as in germany nietzche killing of god, they a puritan religion.(religion solved some of the doubts about this industrialism) (^3) Recognition that men were constructing the new environmental way of life.
Late 20th^ century realistic novel F 0E 0 Henry James He is not considered an American writer because he lived in London; spend most of literary career in England. Most of his writings were related to American experiences. British eyes, but talking about America. Very interested in human relationships. Psychological interest. William James his brother most famous psychologist. Our
brain only apprehends fragments. James adds a new variety to realism: the complexity of the human existence. Visible vs. invisible. Tangible vs. intangible.
of three aspects: Description, analysis and dialogues. Realistic writers tried to write about what their saw. “Consciousness”: integral perception of ourselves. This was built around characters, each characters provides his/her own view of reality but at the end the reader should get a final impression, a final conclusion of that reality, like a sense of coherence. Individual experiences.
Writers were in favour of description analisis dialogues
with this 3 tecniques, devices the realistic writer write about what he saw, his experience in reality. H.james aim was to bring realism to the principle of point of view, and necesity of combining realism and point of view, conciousness, our perception of ourselves with the external world, so it is provided by characters and at the end we get an opinion, a conclusion. An explample is about the new york square in which characters lived, diversity of life, and at the end we get a social view of this square and ney york. Henry james inserts this sicology with this social reality. He’s use of the present has to do with individualism rather than his objective view. The recognition of the individual. Function of realistic writer, report observable facts as twain in letters.
Determinism: It is no new, it is taken from science, darwin, a continual process of evolution.we are determined by the past, writer retook this consideration, returning men’s revolution. Social forces determine man evolution.
In America F 0E 0 No School of Realism, no manifestos on realism, no essays on realism. This aspect is very important because when there is a new movement there are many manifestos, however in movement like New york school there are several essays that contributes to several movement.
Realism in America is associated with a variety of non literary aspects.
- It was an agrarian society, regionalism, and this period helped to deveop realism, naturalism -Subject of shift of economics , agricultural society became an industrial one, how socual order people are determined by big cities. -Political reform, it was not in France or England.
Realism in American pay attention to the economy (agriculture society into industrial society) Political reforms because of the civil war.
We cannor talk of realism, but several realisms depending on writers,
there wasnt theory of this movement, but a process of writers acumulating realistic concerns throughtout 19 th.
Several types of realism, depending on the writer.
he narrates how he came from a handwork origin and became a hero, he is compared to a man in mountains and sea. The color of the ground was in him the read earth.
He was preocupated for social affairs , and with and antislavery
