The Portable American Realism Reader
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Book Overview
During the pivotal period of America's international emergence, between the Civil War and WWI, the aligned literary movements of Realism and Naturalism not only shaped the national literature of the age, but also left an indelible and far-reaching influence on twentieth-century American and world literature. Seeking to strip narrative from pious sentimentalities, and, according to William Dean Howells, to "paint life as it is, and human feelings in their true proportion and relation," Realism is best represented by this volume's masterly pieces by Twain, Henry James, Stephen Crane, Kate Chopin, and Willa Cather among others. The joining of Realist methods with the theories of Marx, Darwin, and Spencer to reveal the larger forces (biological, evolutionary, historical) which move humankind, are exemplified here in the fiction of such writers as Jack London, Frank Norris, and Theodore Dreiser.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:0140268308
ISBN13:9780140268300
Release Date:December 1997
Publisher:Penguin Publishing Group
Length:640 Pages
Weight:1.14 lbs.
Dimensions:1.2" x 5.1" x 7.8"
Age Range:18 years and up
Grade Range:Postsecondary and higher
Customer Reviews
1 rating
An anthology for its time
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 19 years ago
From the end of the Civil War to the beginning of the first World War there was a flowering of American writing. Here a good representation of it is grouped together under the heading of 'American Realism and Naturalism'. The 'Realism' is the critical term of William Dean Howells and the Naturalism is much more suitable to certain writers, say Harold Frederic, than it is to others, say Henry James. In short there is a great variety of voices in this collection and taken together they give a sense of the energetic motion of American life and literature at the time. Some of it is great literature, James , Twain, Crane , and much of it is competent first- class writing. A very worthwhile anthology for one who wishes to both enjoy first- rate Literature and have a special insight into a period of American Literary History.
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