The Age of American Realism and
Naturalism
Historical background
The Age of American lterature Realism and Naturalism is also the age of Post-Civil War Reconstruction.During this period:
1.The Civil War changed America from an agrarian to an industrial society.
2.The Civil War changed American people's views on values,morality and religion.
3.The Civil War resulted in American industrialization and urbanization, which made many farmers flock to the industrialized cities.
4.Although industrialization and urbanization produced fiancial giants,at the same time it created the indurstrial proletariat(无产阶级）entirely at the mercy of external forces(外部力量）beyond their control.
The above political,social and moral changes have influenced American writers in both theme and technique.
Characteristics
Realism employs a straightforward presentation or matter-of-fact manner to express"the truthful treatment of material". Naturalism emphasizes that the world was amoral,that men and women have no free will,that their lives are controlled by heredity and the environment,that religious"truths"are illusory,and that the destiny was misery in life and oblivion in death.
Name: Mark Twain(1835~1910)
Profession：Humorist,Novelist and Locutionist(演说家）
Master works:The Million Pound Note ;The Adventure of Tom Sawyer; The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn
Works' style:Abounding with humorous, satire and local colour.
Writing object: The lower class
Name:Henry James(1843~1916) Profession：Novelist and critic Master works:The American ;The Portrait of a Lady ;Daisy Miller Works' style: Focus on inside description and narrative perspective
Writing object: The upper class
William Dean Howells (1837–1920)
Jack London(1876~1916)
Stephen Crane(1871～1900)
Chinese Realism Time: In 1950s , realism became popular in China Effect:Bring about the prosperous of Chinese realism
peotry.
Master poets: Zang Kejia; Guo Xiaochuan; Zhang Zhiming and so on Three Generations
Zang Kejia The child, bathing in the earth;
The father, sweating in the earth;
The grandfather, buried in the earth.。