REALISM

REALISM

From the study material for different universities prepared by Dr. S. Sreekumar

1. What is Realism?

Damian Grant begins his monograph on realism thus:

Nothing illustrates the chronic instability of the word more clearly than its uncontrollable tendency to attract another qualifying word, or words, to provide some kind of semantic support.

Here, Grant is pointing out two important aspects of realism. Firstly, the word suffers from a ‘chronic instability’. Secondly, the word needs some other ‘semantic support’ to survive. Grant adds that these two qualities of the term have given rise to numerous types of ‘realisms’ and he lists out as many as twenty six different types.

Thus we see that defining the word ‘realism’ is a tricky task. Nevertheless, creative writers and critics have often attempted to define it. Wallace Stevens, for example, defines realism as a “corruption of reality”. Harry Levin calls it “a willed tendency of art to approximate reality”. Wimsatt and Brooks use the term broadly to mean “a reaction against a number of things that were thought in the mid-nineteenth century to be unreal”. As so many different definitions are apt to confuse the student of literature, it is better to follow some broad definition like the following one: “Realism is the faithful representation of reality” or “verisimilitude”.

II. Characteristics of Realism

Richard Chase in his book The American Novel and its Tradition describes certain characteristic features of realism thus:

1. Realism renders reality closely and in comprehensive detail.

2. It lays much stress on verisimilitude.

3. In a realistic novel, character is more important than action or plot.

4. The events described in a realistic novel/drama are plausible.  Sensational and dramatic elements are usually avoided.

5. Diction is natural and vernacular. It is not heightened by poetic imagination. Tone may sometimes be comic or satiric; at other times matter-of-fact.

III. Growth and Development of Realism

As an artistic movement, realism originated in France during the middle of the nineteenth century. The word ‘realisme’ was used by Edmund de Gouncourt in the Preface to Les Fre’res Zemganno and later in 1855 the term was again used by the painter Courbert—‘Du Re’ alisme’—over the exhibition of his paintings. The novelist Champfleury also used the term as the title of his volume of essays—Le Realisme. Ironically, the term gained much popularity when Flaubert and Baudelaire condemned it in their writings. The latter called it “a disgusting insult thrown in the face of every rational person’. The term became fashionable when it was applied to the novels of Balzac in France, George Eliot in England and Howells in America.

(a) Realism in English Literature

The tradition of realistic fiction had started in England with Defoe and Fielding. But its full development came only in the nineteenth century with George Eliot. Jane Austen’s novels are also highly realistic and the aim of both Defoe and Jane Austen was to hold a mirror to reality.

(b) Realism in American Literature

After the civil war, America witnessed rapid growth and development. The increase in literacy, the rapid growth in industries, increasing urbanization and the rapid rise of the middle class led to social changes favorable to the development of realism. Howells, Henry James and Mark Twain wrote realistic fiction that reflected the socio-economic changes around them. Their aim was to provide accurate representation of American life in various contexts.

IV. Realism and Naturalism

Many critics feel that there is not much real distinction between realism and naturalism. One rough distinction made by critics is that naturalism implies a philosophical position unlike realism, which stresses on literary techniques. Naturalists believe that human beings (Emile Zola uses the phrase “human beasts”) can be studied through their relationship with their surroundings. Zola described this method in his novel Le Roman Experimental (1880). Zola and the other naturalists believed that the laws behind the forces that rule a man’s life can be studied systematically. Naturalists also believed that the creative artist must achieve the objectivity of the scientist. He must show no feeling or interest when analyzing various aspects of life. Noted naturalists are Guy de Maupassant, George Moore, Theodore Dreiser, Frank Norris and Stephen Crane.

V. Achievements of Realism

1. As an artistic movement it expressed the dominant mood of the 19^th century. It reflected the scientific and industrial progress of its day and turned its back on the fantasies of Romanticism.

2. Realism underlined the role of the individual. This is significant because the role of the individual becomes more and more blurred as a result of the commercialization of human life.

3. Realism has been a durable literary form.

4. It brings man closer to the physical world.

5. The language of realism is the language of everyday life.

6. Georg Lukacs believes that the realist by providing an impartial view of the reality around him shows us the governing forces of history.

VI. Problems of Realism

1. Realistic representation is always a selection. A novelist like George Eliot, for example, does not narrate each and every incident in the life of a character. Rather she selects only a certain number of events, which she deems significant. Thus realism is not faithful to reality.

2. Realism cannot represent the spiritual essence of human life. It concentrates too much on external reality and misses the soul.

3. Words are mere signifiers. We understand a word because of its difference with others. ‘Cold’ cannot be understood without experiencing ‘hot’ and vice versa. Words are only signs. They cannot objectively or clearly represent reality.

VII Conclusion

All said and done, realism has captured and held the attention of creative writers and critics alike for nearly two hundred years. No other literary form or mode has lasted thus long. Its imperishable nature and adaptability has made it a very attractive form.

Books for further reading:

1.  Realism  by Damian Grant. London: Methuen & Co., 1971.

2. Studies in European Realism by Georg Lukacs

3. On Realism by J.P. Stern

4. The Realistic Imagination by George Levine

Dr.S. Sreekumar