1865-1910

American Realism and Naturalism

TransformationBetween the years 1850 and 1914, America

witnessed a major transformation. This affected the literature of the time period.

The United States started to become less of an agricultural nation, and more industrialized.

These changes began in the period right before the civil war and ended in the period after.

RealismRealism- striving to uphold actuality in literature.

American Realism began as a reaction to and a rejection of Romanticism, with its emphasis on emotion, imagination, and the individual.

Realist writers showed things how they really were. They didn’t sugar coat things.

Writers stopped writing about how life could be and started examining how life really was.

Usually written in natural vernacular or dialect.

NaturalismNaturalism- Environment/Nature is in control

Took place in/was a part of the Realism Literary era

Believed that a person’s heredity and social environment determined one’s character and outcome

Humans are unable to impose their own will on their destinies.

Genre American Author

Perceived the Individual as…

Romantics Ralph Waldo Emerson A God

Realists Mark Twain Simply a Person

Naturalists Stephen Crane A Helpless Object

Regionalismliterature that focuses on specific features

of a particular region, including characters, dialects, customs, history, land.

Often called “Local Color”

Why did Realism Develop?Reaction to RomanticismThe United States Split into Union and

ConfederacyUpheaval from the Civil WarDisappearing FrontierAmerican Society Changing

The Union is DissolvedLincoln was elected president

during this time period.He wanted to end the spread of

slavery, which upset the south.Their primary focus was

agricultural, and they claimed to need the slaves to help their economy.

South Carolina pledged to secede from the Union if Lincoln was elected. They kept their promise.

Other states began following their lead.

Upheaval from Civil WarPeople expected the war

to be a short and easy victory, but it lasted for 4 long years

After it ended, 620,000 had been killed and 500,000 had been wounded

The south was in ruinsLincoln was assassinated

very shortly after the warHe was unable to aid the

country in reconstruction

Disappearing FrontierBy 1890, the frontier that Americans had

once known no longer existed.The increase in settlers, railroads, ranches,

and mining had all caused the transformation of the west.

There was no longer herd of buffalo, open ranches, or Indian nations.

Instead, there were enormous plowed fields, wired fences, and many more people.

American Society ChangingElectricity had been

invented, causing the 2nd Industrial Revolution

Electric lights, telephones, automobiles, motion pictures, and phonographs began to take over.

Sky Scrapers, Department Stores, and Mass Transportation became a part of the city life.this created noise,

traffic jams, pollution, crime, and slums

American Society Changing continued

Many immigrants began to come to US and settle in the large cities

This caused even more industrial and urban growth

In the same period, many Americans left their farms for the city for work

New extremes of wealth and poverty established

Child labor becomes very popular in working class

Immigrant families often lived in small, dark, unventilated apartments with no toilets- caused diseases

TenementsThese apartments were called tenements

In the US, tenements housed many of the new immigrants

They were cramped, crowded, and poorly constructed

Often, multiple families lived in the same apartment together, to save rent, leaving minimal space, and the buildings were poorly ventilated.

Landlords charged outrageous prices for rent

These conditions caused a large amount of alcoholism and violence

The BoweryThe Bowery was

one of the most famous tenements in New York City

It is the setting for the novella, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets

Ambrose BierceServed in the Civil

War- writing career shaped by his career as a union officer

Brutality of war only enhanced his cynicism

Grew up in poverty- shaped his pessimistic view of the world

Mark TwainAlso known as

Samuel Langhorne Clemmons

He used exaggeration and embellishment to make his stories humorous

Was a regionalist writer

Bret HarteCreated vivid and lasting

memories of the “old west”

Used picturesque characters and colorful dialogue

Included post-Civil War America in his works

Used humor and violenceThe Hollywood western

can be traced to his tales

Stephen CraneA writer and a journalist. He threw

himself into the lives of the stories he was trying to portray in order to get a more accurate and realistic depiction

Went “under cover”Maggie: A Girl of the Streets is

considered the first work of American Naturalism (A grimly realistic portrayal of life in the city’s slums)

He published the book at his own expense.

He married a madam of a brothelVery famous for his realistic and

naturalistic worksDied at the age of 28 of TB