文档介绍：Realism in American literature 1860-1900
The 19th century
Romanticism
1810-1850
Realism
1860-1900
Objectives for this lesson
Origin of realism
Characteristics of realism
Definition of realism
Introduction to Mark Twain
Realism
Transcendentalism
Natural goodness
The optimistic view of nature and man
Benevolent God
“Realism is nothing more and nothing less than the truthful treatment of material.”
—William Dean Howells
Background
1. American Civil War (1861-1865)
2. Rapid growth in industrialization
3. Closing frontier
Golden Age=====Gilded Age
Characteristics of Realism
Character: in their plexity of temperament and motive.
Class: middle class and lower class.
3. Theme: in avoidance of the sensational,
dramatic elements of romances.
5. Diction: vernacular, not heightened or
poetic;
6. Tone: comic, satiric, or matter-of-
fact.
7. Presentation: objectivity
Definition of realism
Time: in the latter half of the 19th century
An reaction against: the lie of romanticism and sentimentalism
Concern for: monplace and the low
Style: vernacular diction, rough and ready frontier humor
“verisimilitude of detail derived from observation, the effort to approach the norm of experience—a reliance on the representative in plot, setting, and character, and to offer an objective rather than an idealized view of human nature and experience.”