UNIT 6.

REALISM
 Definitions of Realism
• The term has two main definitions or uses:

1. A recurrent mode, in various eras and literary

forms, of representing human life and experience in
literature

2. A literary movement/period in the 19th century

 Realism as a Mode of Expression
• Fiction is described as “realistic” if it represents life and
the social world that the reader recognizes
• The subject is common and relatable for the readers: the
characters can easily be imagined as existing
 Realism as a Mode of Expression
• 18th century: realism marked
by confluence or confusion
between the novel and
journalism
• Mixture of fact and fiction
presented as verisimilar
 Realism as a Mode of Expression
• 19th century: realism in the
detailed recording of
characters’ sensory
impressions, their style of
dress, and their visual or
auditory perceptions.

Millet, The Gleaners, 1857

 Realism as a Mode of Expression
• 20th century: Marxist literary
criticism: Gyorgy Lukács:
realism meant a total
representation of society,
including the interaction of its
various classes
• 20th century: Virginia Woolf
and Modernism: a critique of
“materialist” writers for not
representing “true life”
 Realism as Movement/Time Period
• The European novel in the 19th century: Balzac, Tolstoy,
Eliot, Dickens
• Response to an exaggerated romanticism, idealism or
sentimentalization
• Depiction of social world inhabited by author, reader and
characters
• Describe things ‘as they really are’, the way things
‘usually’ look on an ordinary day to ordinary eyes
 Victorian Age
• Longest and greatest in
English fiction (1837-1901)
• Some of the most
important writers:
• Dickens
• The Brontë Sisters
• Elizabeth Gaskell
• George Eliot
• Thackeray
• Hardy
 Victorian Age
• Population growth
• Industrial Revolution
• Overseas Trade
• Improved economy mid
19th-century onward
British Empire
British Empire
Industrial Revolution
 Industrial Revolution

Sir Luke Fildes, Houseless and Hungry, 1869

 Industrial Revolution

Sir Luke Fildes, Applicants for Admission to a Casual Ward, 1874

 Social, Political and Cultural Context of Victorian Age

• Political changes (Reform

Bill), Chartism
• Marx writes Das Kapital
(1867)
• Reading as a social activity
• Influence of Utilitarianism
(Bentham, John Stuart Mill)
• Laissez-faire capitalism
 Victorian Novel
· Dominant genre of the Victorian Age

· Reflection of the pressing social, economic, religious

and intellectual issues and problems of the era

· Works often portrayed the harsh reality of the industrial

age, depicting the deplorable conditions of factories and
mines, the plight of children, discrimination of women,
poverty and overcrowding of cities
 Charles Dickens (1812-1870)
• Born in Portsmouth, moved to
London at ten
• Sent to work to Warren’s
Blacking Factory at twelve
(David Copperfield)
• Family in debtors’ prison
• Later in life, clerk at a
solicitor’s and reporter

Charles Dickens (1812-1870)

 Charles Dickens (1812-1870)
• Wide range of genres: from
humorous to dramatic
• View of literature as a way to
change the world
• Role of children- put at center
of literature

Charles Dickens (1812-1870)

 Charles Dickens (1812-1870)
• The Pickwick Papers (1836)
• Oliver Twist (1837-1838)
• The Old Curiosity Shop (1840)
• A Christmas Carol (1843)
• David Copperfield (1849)
• Bleak House (1852-153)
• Hard Times (1854)
• Great Expectations (1860)

Charles Dickens (1812-1870)

 Hard Times (1854)
• Serial novel published between
April-August 1854
• “State of the Nation” novel
• Coketown (fictional industrial
town)
• Thomas Gradgrind-
superintendent of schools with
5 children of his own
• Fact vs Fancy/ Rich vs Poor
• Critique of Utilitarianism

Charles Dickens (1812-1870)

 American Realism
• From mid-19th century to early
years of the 20th century
• Portrayal of real life issues and
problems (from slavery, Civil
War, racism, factory conditions
to Naturalism of late 19th
century)
 American Realism

Mark Twain William Dean Howells

 American Realism

Harriet Beecher Stowe Stephen Crane

 American Realism

Horatio Alger Rebecca Harding Davis

 American Realism

John Steinbeck Upton Sinclair

Jack London
 Harriet Beecher Stowe
• Middle-class family from New
England
• Well-educated and travelled
• Married a teacher
• Published humorous stories and
sketches in National Era
• Affected by Fugitive Slave Act

(1811-1896)
Historical Context
Historical Context
Historical Context
Historical Context
Historical Context
Historical Context
Historical Context
Historical Context
 Historical Context
• Abolitionist Movement
• Underground Railroad
• Compromise of 1850
• Fugitive Slave Law (1850)
 Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)
• Published originally in serial
format
• Extremely successful
• Mythology surrounding Stowe
• Responses- anti-Tom novels
and Stowe’s “Key”
• Lasting stereotypes
• Adaptations and various
formats
 Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)
• Mr. and Mrs. Shelby
• Uncle Tom and Chloe
• George Harris, Eliza Harris,
Harry
• Augustine St. Clare, Ophelia
Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)