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The Age of Realism (1865-1915) - Literary guide 1 - Coggle Diagram
The Age of Realism (1865-1915) - Literary guide 1
Poetry
Emily Dickinson (1830-86) studied at Amherst Academy, led the life of a recluse but lived it with great intensity. Her poetry shows the influence of the Bible and of the rhythms of the hymns. She wrote nearly 1,800 poems. + Indebtness to metaphysical poetry (elliptical, indirect language)
Fiction
Regional realism
Local colour fiction focuses on the portrayal of a particuliar region (dialect, mannerism). It uses verisimilitude, detailed representation of the peculiarities of certains areas. (cf. Louisa May Scott + Hamlin Garland)
In the South, literature lamented the loss of the antebellum plantation life although some novelists condemn racism and the southern myth.
In New England, it focuses on the rural world.
The west was the region which contributed to the greatest number of talents and many of frontier myth. (cf. Bret Hart who wrote about outlaws, gamblers; Owen Wister about cowboys romances and lament for a world disappearing.
Samuel Clemens, who used the pseudonym Mark Twain, critized the new God, Mammon.
Fiction bis
Psychological realism: the expatriates
Henry James (1843-1916) was given an informal but cosmopolitan and eclectic education. His short stories develop this international theme, contrasting European reserve, finesse and decadence with American brashness and virtue. EX. The portray of a lady.
In The Art of Fiction (1884), he explained his conception of realism: the novel should focus on external description but reflect the drama of subjective life.
Edith Wharton (1862-1937) shared James' cosmopolitan point of view. her favourite subject was manners of society, including a fascination with its outward signs, buildings, paintings, furnishings and clothes. She cast a critical eye upon the pretensions of the New York aristocracy and newly rich.
Fiction ter
Naturalism
William Dean Howells defended the cause of realism. He defined this as honesty, plausibility and the truthful treatment of material, rejecting any description of squalor.
Henry Adams (1838-1918) was interested in the forces that make history but he only found disillusion, confusion and obscurity.
Naturalism implies determinism as men are conditioned by their inner forces and environmental ones. It tackles the causes, the scientific laws which explain actions.