The Era Of Naturalism And Realism

Decent Essays
The next large era was called the period of “Naturalism and Realism”. This era started in 1865 and peaked from the 1890s to the 1910s. This era was notorious for containing dry literary techniques and works. Both naturalism and realism were viewed as extremely dry time periods, as they didn’t contain the perks or characteristics of romanticism. There was very little imagination and character used in works of literature during this era. Most authors didn’t incorporate any emotions or feelings into their writing, giving the era a poor reputation. The reason for the lack of audience associated with realism and naturalism was the fact that the majority of young readers favored romanticism and other styles of writing with emotion, imagination, and …show more content…
The period of Reconstruction began in 1865, accounting for a lot of change in the United States, including the shift from one literary era to another. However, the era of realism and naturalism reached its peak in 1877, when the Reconstruction period ended. There were also several advancements in technology that shifted the focus from imagination and character to industrialization, including the invention of the motion-picture projector. This put more focus on the concept of science instead of literature, therefore decreasing its importance during this era. The famous authors of this time period include O. Henry, Ambrose Bierce, Ralph Ellison, Ring Lardner, and James …show more content…
While starting off at a similar time as realism and naturalism, psychological realism hadn’t peaked until the early 1900s. Authors of this literary era typically placed emphasis on the internal conflicts and mindsets within characters in their works, making it much more interesting and original than works of the previous era. Instead of focusing on logic and technology, authors of the psychological realism period focused on character and emotion in order to create literature appealing to the audience at the time. One of the reasons that the literary period was successful was because of the lack of criticism of writing techniques. While the traditional realism period had carried out impressive scientific and economical movements, its literature was quite hollow. Because of this, there was much more criticism of realism literature. On the other hand, the psychological realism era demonstrated excellent writing styles and techniques, requiring less criticism. Another interesting component of this time period was the fact that it occurred at the time of early psychological developments. While the concept of psychology was being founded and built upon, a literary era incorporated its values and main ideas into pieces of writing. In the present, it’s very typical to find internal conflicts involving a character’s conscious in

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Appearance and aesthetics play an important role in day to day life. First impression, facial expressions, and familiar faces are key to one's development within a society. Different societies place different emphasis on the importance and characteristics of a person's appearance. This is the same within in different literary genres. Realism, as a genre, shows the world in a plain and simplistic view.…

    • 513 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Superhero Research Paper

    • 809 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Superheroes. We live in an age of heroes. Whether you’ve seen them in comics, books, TV shows, or movies, you have seen a hero in action. People are fascinated and intrigued by superheroes. Maybe it’s because they give us hope.…

    • 809 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Romanticism vs. Realism Romanticism and Realism are entirely different. Romanticism is a movement that dominated literary, visual, and musical arts. It does not contribute to romance, it's main focus is ¨depicting emotional matter in imaginative form¨. Realism focus on ordinary people and their daily lives rather than supernatural, nationalism, heroism, and strange and faraway places, themes that characteristic the Romanticism literature. Romanticism and Realism are perfectly opposite each other like in ¨Masque of the Red Death¨ by Edgar Allen Poe,which is Romanticism and ¨To Build a Fire¨ by Jack London which is Realism. The main purpose of this essay is to prove the differences between the two gernes by comparing and contrasting the Plot,Characters,and Presentation of good and evil.…

    • 2055 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    1.During the era of the early eighteenth and mid nineteenth centuries, an artistic evolution came to play in the literature world. This movement was known as the Romantic Period where brilliant, intellectual scholars known as the Romantics became engaged in art, literature, and other philosophical studies. On the contrary, the author, Nathaniel Hawthorne is known for his famous dark romanticism and classical works. The anti-transcendentalist, Nathaniel Hawthorne describes his life growing up in an obscure and corrupt society in the introduction of his novel, The Scarlet Letter. He manifests his opposition towards commercialism and sees the dark side of man and the wickedness of society.…

    • 1179 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    At the turn of the 20th century, the American people experienced a turbulent change in the way they viewed the world. During the preceding Romantic Period, originating in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, literature and thought focused on hopeful longing, romantic optimism and an abundant use of flowery, complex language, both in the spoken and written word. Romantic poets such as John Keats and William Wordsworth used intricate metaphors and descriptive imagery to give vast, inspiring meaning to their works, which usually encompassed topics such as love, life and belonging. To describe the beauty of this time period, French poet Charles Baudelaire stated, "to say the word Romanticism is to say modern art -- that is, intimacy, spirituality,…

    • 1290 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Romantic period in American literature was filled with many authors of famous works such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Washington Irving, Hawthorne, and plenty more. This period also consisted of theories and philosophies about life, as well as aspects of life such as human nature. Being that all of these were a major part during the Romantic period in American literature, it’s interesting to find out that romance was not included in most studies of American literature. During the Romantic period, there were many different pieces of writing being published and written.…

    • 546 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Between 1965 and 1914, realism was the prominent way of writing in America, and was largely read and published. There were many famous authors in this time period who began to help form this genre, and to pave the way for future American authors and their creativity. Some prominent figures of this time were, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, William Dean Howells, Kate Chopin, Mark Twain, and many other writers. Each of these individuals added their own flair to the mix and constructed a many tales which we still read today.…

    • 1472 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    According to the The Norton Anthology of American Literature, “realism implies a rejection of romantic, heroic, exaggerated, and idealistic views of life in favor of detailed, accurate descriptions of the everyday.” Naturalism tends to be confused with realism, however, realist tend to focus more on the middle class. Naturalist have a problem with realism as they (naturalist) want to shift the focus on natural forces and how it shapes human life beyond human control. Going back to The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Edith Wharton was one to “push towards” naturalism in her writings; “Edith Wharton’s view of high society pushed toward naturalism in its sense that the rich could sometimes seem as much victims of natural forces as the poor. We see both realism and naturalism in her works, such as, in “Roman Fever.”…

    • 764 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Since the introduction of cuneiform in acient Mesopotamia, writing has been used to spread information, document events, and to keep a history of important events within civilazations. However, text has also served the purpose of entertaining the imaginations of the masses with artistic compositions such as elaborate stories, thoughtful poems, and wimsical plays. The Romantic literary period of American literature is an example of a time in which innovation and originality aided in producing great literary works, which then inspired equally superior works in other areas of the arts. By comparing and contrasting literary works of the Romantic era and the period before known as the Enlightenment, one will be able recognize the differences in…

    • 1676 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Literary Realism is defined as the reaction to the rejection of Romanticism, with a major importance on emotion, imagination, and the individual. Although mostly centered on stories of fiction, it attempts to personify the everyday real life of the induvial. Works of literature such as Charlotte Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”, Sam Clemens’, also known as Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Fin, and Hamlin Garland’s “Under the Lions Paw” all attempt to relate to a particular identity of the American people during the late 19th century using literary realism. Literary realism in such works forever changed the landscape of modern literature as we know it. Charlotte Gilman published “The Yellow Wallpaper” in January of 1892.…

    • 1759 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Frankenstein Romanticism

    • 1150 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Societal changes and a shared response towards Rationalism paved the way for a new artistic style during the late 1800s: Romanticism. It first emerged in Europe, gradually gaining popularity until it reached its peak in 1855. At the time, the newly-appreciated style, while overall, covering a broad category, valued emotion over logic, emphasized the purity nature, and focused on the uniqueness and imagination of an individual. During the Romantic Period, literature gained some of its most famous works yet, including legendary works like The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley.…

    • 1150 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    When observing the text through a critical theory lens it is apparent the psychoanalytic literary theory is applicable. The psychoanalytic literary theory seeks to explore the character’s…

    • 1660 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Realism Research Paper Throughout the course of history, literature has been focused on themes such as religion, political independence, and romance. America had never really been exposed to the harsh truths of life that people faced. Then around the nineteenth century, Realism was introduced; a movement that showcased reality. The Realism movement was a polar opposite of previous topics.…

    • 1212 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    With the different types of writing, realism introduced people to read the literature and understand the changes in…

    • 1225 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Four Major Themes of the Romantic Period in Europe During the romanticism, writers, poets and free spirited humans created four major themes of their writing. The four major themes of Romanticism are emotion and imagination, nature, and social class. Romantic writers were influenced greatly by the evolving and changing world around them. During 1889 they were striving to remember nature and its impact on the world as they experienced the industrial revolution in Europe and the moving of families to cities as factories were being built.…

    • 1058 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays