Critical realism in American literature Plan: Introduction

Psychological realism. A type of realism that’s character-driven, focusing on what motivates them to make certain decisions and why. Psychological realism sometimes uses characters to express commentary on social or political issues. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1866) is a psychological realist novel about a man who hatches a plan to kill a man and take his money to get out of poverty—but feels immense guilt and paranoia after he does it.

Realism was a literary movement that began in the mid-19th century and can be defined as a move against Romanticism that stressed truthful and relatable, also realistic, subject matter. The era of Romanticism, or romantic literature, was often marked by fantastical stories that were thought by many to be out of touch with real life. Thus, Realism was an after effect or evolution from Romanticism into more commonplace situations and stories in literature. Realism in literature was incredibly popular and was demonstrated through the use of relatable, everyday, characters and situations.

The Realist Movement

The Realist literary movement was thought to have originated in France circa 1850, after the 1848 Revolution, and then spread widely throughout Europe and the United States as the movement gained popularity. As previously mentioned, Realism was a response to the earlier period of Romanticism, which also had its origins in France, but during the early French Revolutionary period. Realist artists and writers grew tired of the fantastical exaggerations of the Romantic style and era, so they strove to create more realistic representations of life; this is how the Realism period began. People were widely more attracted to stories about common experiences and people that they could relate to, which led to the overall popularity of the Realist movement.

Stendhal, a French writer, was famed for helping popularize the Realist literary movement. He, along with other writers, created characters and situations that were relatable to common people. Realism often focused on middle and lower-class people within typical locations and time periods. Industrialism, history, racism, upward mobility, war, and the growing scientific fields of the time all helped inspire subjects and backgrounds of Realism in American literature and beyond. The aforementioned list was representative of real problems and developments that people navigated during the time period, and still in the present, making Realism appealing to a² range of readers. Literary Realism as a movement fizzled out a bit by the mid-20th century, but subsequent writers were inspired by the movement and still seek to create relatable characters and situations.