美国文学之现实主义

nullThe Realistic PeriodThe Realistic Periodfrom 1865 to l914The Age of Realism The Age of Realism The period ranging from 1865 to l914 has been referred to as the Age of Realism in the literary history of the United States, which is actually a movement or tendency that dominated the spirit of American literature, especially American fiction, from the 1850s onwards. Realism was a reaction against Romanticism or a move away from the bias towards romance and self-creating fictions, and it paved the way to Modernism. Instead of thinking about the irrational, the imaginative, realists touched upon social and political realities and pressures in the post-civil war society. Three dominant figures are William Dean Howells, Mark Twain, and Henry James.The historical and socio-cultural background of american realism The historical and socio-cultural background of american realism Politically, the Civil War affected both the social and the value system of the country. Economically, the changes were not all for the better. As far as the ideology was concerned, people became dubious about the human nature and the benevolence of God, which the Transcendentalists cared most. The literary scene after the Civil War proved to be quite different a picture. The Gilded Age The Gilded Age It refers to the period of gross materialism and blatant political corruption in the U.S. history during the 1870s that gave rise to important novels of social and political criticism. The period takes its name from the earliest of these, The Gilded Age(1873),written by Mark Twain in collaboration with Charles Dudley Warner. The novel gives a vivid and accurate description of Washington D.C., and is peopled with caricatures of many leading figures of the day, including greedy industrialists and corrupt politicians. The political novels of the Gilded Age represent the beginnings of a new strain in the American literature, the novel as a vehicle of social protest, a trend that grew in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with the works of the muckrakers and culminated in the proletarian novelists.What is Realism? What is Realism? In art and literature, Realism refers to an attempt to describe human behavior and surroundings or to represent figures exactly as they act or appear in life. Realism emerged as a literary movement in Europe in the 1850s. In reaction to Romanticism, realistic writers should set down their observations impartially and objectively. They insisted on accurate documentation, sociological insight, and avoidance of poetic diction and idealization. The subjects were to be taken from everyday life, preferably from lower-class life. Realism entered American literature after the Civil War. William Dean Howells, Mark Twain, and Henry James were the pioneers of realism in the U.S. The literary characteristics of the Realistic Period in American literature The literary characteristics of the Realistic Period in American literature Guided by the principle of adhering to the truthful treatment of life, the realists touched upon various contemporary social and political issues. In their works, instead of writing about the polite, well--dressed, grammatically correct middle--class young people who moved in exotic places and remote times, they introduced industrial workers and farmers, ambitious businessmen and vagrants, prostitutes and unheroic soldiers as major characters in fiction. They approached the harsh realities and pressures in the post-Civil War society either by a comprehensive picture of modern life in its various occupations, class stratifications and manners, or by a psychological exploration of man's subconsciousness. The three dominant figures of the period, William Dean Howells, Mark Twain, and Henry James, brought to fulfillment native trends in the realistic portrayal of the landscape and social surfaces, brought to perfection the vernacular style, and explored and exploited the literary possibilities of the interior life.The three dominant figures of the Realistic period differed in their understanding of the “truth ”The three dominant figures of the Realistic period differed in their understanding of the “truth ” (1) While Mark Twain and Howells paid more attention to the "life" of the Americans, Henry James laid a greater emphasis on the" inner world" of man. He came to believe that the literary artist should not simply hold a mirror to the surface of social life in particular times and places. In addition, the writer should use language to probe the deepest reaches of the psychological and moral nature of human beings. He is a realist of the inner life. (2) Though Twain and Howells both shared the same concern in presenting the truth of the American society, they had each of them different emphasis. Howells focused his discussion on the rising middle class and the way they lived, while Twain preferred to have his own region and people at the forefront of his stories, which is known as “ local colorism”, a unique variation of American literary realism.What is Local Colorism? What is Local Colorism? Post-Civil War America was large and diverse enough to sense its own local differences. Regional voices had emerged. “ Local colorism” is a unique variation of American literary realism. Generally, the works by local colorists are concerned with the life of a small, well--defined region or province. This kind of fiction depicts the characters from a specific setting or of an era, which are marked by its customs, dialects, costumes, landscape, or other peculiarities that have eacaped standardizing cultural influence. Yet for all their sentimentality, they dedicated themselves to minutely accurate descriptions of the life of their regions. They worked from personal experience; they recorded the facts of a unique environment and suggested that the native life was shaped by the curious conditions of the locale. Their materials were necessarily limited and topics disparate, yet they had certain common artistic concerns. Writers whose works are characterized with local colors are Mark Twain, Sarah Orne Jewett, Joseph Kirkland and Hamlin Garland.The influence of Darwinism and French naturalist writers on American literature in its Realistic PeriodThe influence of Darwinism and French naturalist writers on American literature in its Realistic Period Darwin, in his The Origin of Species(1859) and Descent Of Man (187l ),expounded his theory of natural selection. The American naturalists accepted the more negative implications of this theory and used it to account for the behavior of those characters in literary works who were conceived as more or less complex combinations of inherited attributes, their habits conditioned by social and economic forces. And consciously or unconsciously the American naturalists followed the French novelist and theorist Emile Zola's call. They chose their subjects from the lower ranks of society and portrayed the people who were demonstrably victims of society and nature. And one of the most familiar themes in American Naturalism is the theme of human “bestiality”, especially as an explanation of sexual desire. What is Naturalism? (or American Naturalism) What is Naturalism? (or American Naturalism) In literature, the term refers to the theory that literary composition should aim at a detached, scientific objectivity in the treatment of natural man. American Naturalism is a more advanced stage of realism toward the close of the 19th century. They chose their subjects from the lower ranks of society and portrayed the people who were demonstrably victims of society and nature. Artistically, naturalistic writings are usually unpolished in language, lacking in academic skills and unwieldly in structure. Philosophically, the naturalists believe that the real and true is always partially hidden from the eyes of the individual, or beyond his control. In a word, naturalism is evolved from realism when the author's tone in writing becomes less serious and less sympathetic but more detached, ironic and more pessimistic. The distinction between Realism and Naturalism The distinction between Realism and Naturalism The distinction lies, first of all, in the fact that Realism is concerned directly with what is absorbed by the senses; Naturalism, a term more properly applied to literature, attempts to apply scientific theories to art. Second, Naturalism differs from Realism in adding an amoral attitude to the objective presentation of life. Naturalistic writers, adopting Darwin’s biological determinism and Marx’s economic determinism, regard human behavior as controlled by instinct, emotion, or social and economic conditions, and reject free will. Third, Naturalism had an outlook often bleaker than that of Realism, and it added a dimension of predetermined fate that rendered human will ultimately powerless.What is (Social) Darwinism? What is (Social) Darwinism? Social Darwinism is a belief that societies and individual human beings compete in a struggle for existence in which natural selection results in “struggle of the fittest.” Social Darwinists base their beliefs on theories of evolution developed by British naturalist Charles Darwin. Social Darwinists typically deny that they advocate a “law of jungle.” But most propose arguments that justify imbalances of power between individuals, races, and nations because they consider some more fit to survive than others. The theory had produced a big impact on Naturalism.