(1865-1910)

The Civil War destroyed cities, industries, and lives.

It left bitter memories and economic desolation of the South.

The aftermath of the Civil War meant that Americans were less certain and optimistic about the future.

It was after the Civil War that American literature shifted away from romanticism to realism.

The idealism of the Romantics and the philosophy of Transcendentalists seemed out of date and irrelevant to many readers following the Civil War.

Americans were no longer as interested in literature that was too imaginative or that focused on the supernatural.

Journalistic accounts of the Civil War established a taste for realistic writing.

Realism would reject heroic, adventurous, or unfamiliar subjects that were the topics of earlier romantic literature.

Aside from the Civil War, the following were also influences of the new literary movement: advances in technology

advances in science and education

social changes

increasing rates of democracy and literacy

rapid growth in industrialism

concern about loss of personal identity

What is Realism?

Accurate and detailed presentation of reality.

Every day people, activities, and experiences.

Events are usually plausible, based in reality, and very detailed.

Tone (the author’s attitude towards his or her writing) may be comic, satiric, or matter-of-fact.

Descriptions based

on knowledge or experience This is in contrast to imagination,

which inspires Romanticism)

Realistic fiction or writing may

devote more description to work

or labor Romantic literature does not

typically represent toil or everyday

labor.

Romantics elevate conflicts to

issues of honor, heart, dignity,

responsibility, or heroism rather

than the everyday encounter and

resolution of technical or material

difficulties.

Stories take place in the here and

now and tend to focus on the socio-

political climate of the current time.

Romantic stories tend to take place in

the past.

Greater attention to detail in realism,

especially when it comes to settings,

which may be grittier.

Settings in romantic literature tended

to be out in nature where the positive

aspects of nature are highlighted.

Everyday reality doesn't offer escape

and opportunity but conflicts and

complications instead.

Everything is realistic

Nothing is romanticized

Social pressures become more

important or determining than

the heroic individualism

of Romanticism.

Characters as individuals

don't make up their own

minds or decide their

choices; social training

determines that for them.

Romantic writers stressed

the power and the

importance of the individual.

Characters are complex mixes

of good and bad.

In Romantic literature,

characters are

more symbolic types: gallant

heroes, dastardly villains,

innocent and helpless

women, faithful servants.

Characters are internally

motivated by real-life urges like

greed, lust, confusion.

In Romantic literature,

characters focused more

on honor, chivalry, service,

etc.

Speech of characters in Romantic literature is poetic and heightened.

Speech in realism is vernacular and idiomatic, like common people of particular classes or regions speak. Diction (word choice and flow) of

the characters is natural .

Spelling is phonetic so that the sound of the language is presented

Grammar is often incorrect to reflect the way people of a particular region or socio-economic class actually speak (at the time the piece is set and/or written)

Figures of speech are utilized –these are sayings that people in certain regions or socio-economic classes use

New communities popped up as

Americans migrated and settled out

West.

These included mining camps, cattle

ranches, farming communities, and

frontier towns.

This created new regional diversity,

and authors wanted to capture this

before it disappeared.

It is an outgrowth of realism with

more focus on a particular setting

and its influence over characters.

Prominent from 1865-1895

Often referred to as “local color”

Regionalism emphasizes the details of a specific geographic setting

Focuses on the characteristics of the people of the region such as their… speech (dialect)

behavior / mannerisms

dress

habits / customs

attitudes, religious & moral beliefs

jobs

socio-economic conditions

The effectiveness of regional writing depends to a large extent on the depiction of setting.

Setting, which is the time and place in which a story’s events occur – includes several key elements:

Geographical location and physical features

Such as a river, a camp, a house, etc.

The time in which events are embedded into the story.

A season of the year or a historical period.

Mark Twain, who once lived in a

mining camp, is one of the most

famous writers of realism and

regionalism.

In The Adventures of Huckleberry

Finn, Twain used a lack of grammar,

incorrect sentence structure, and

words that one would never find in

the English dictionary to compose

Huck's language.

Twain also uses seven different

dialects in the story to represent the

difference of various groups living in

the same region.

The local color stories he describes throughout the novel

give the reader a representation of each region along the

Mississippi River as Huck travels along it.

The Mississippi River plays a huge role in the story; it does

not just function as the natural landscape and setting.

Instead, because of the way in which the river affects Huck

and Jim's journey and is their means for escape, freedom

and a new life, the river becomes a major character in the

novel.

Mark Twain

William Dean Howells

Henry James

Edgar Lee Masters

Ambrose Bierce

Willa Cather

Stephen Crane