Realism’s Influence on Literature and American Music
The age of Realism brought together intellectuals such as the father of modern short stories, Henrik Ibsen, and famous musicians such as Scott Joplin. This exact movement communicated an abandonment from the influences of both the intellectual and romantic movements that came before it in America. Some of the most recognized works of American music and literature were produced outside of the period of Realism.
The changes in society and the social well-being of people underlie the primary purpose of the Romantic Movement. Romanticism originally was the reaction against the Enlightenment. According to the Scientific Journal Of Humanistic Studies, the Enlightenment’s purpose was “to reform society using reason, challenging ideas are grounded in tradition and faith, and advance knowledge through the scientific method. “It promoted scientific thought, skepticism, and intellectual interchange” (Bodrogean). With the historical and cultural context of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Romanticism in music took two distinctive paths. “One path in particular was taken in the path to find sources in the French Revolution of 1789 through 1793 and other revolutionary movements such as the July Revolution of 1830” (Fluck).Realism is found everywhere in literature and has enhanced the experiences of our lives, especially in the humanities. The ultimate influential arguments for realism is that it represents the life that people live. In response to the Romantic Era, the Realism Movement sought to depict real-life situations and people that not only affected literature, but also the American music written in the early eighteenth century through the twenty-first century.
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...enty-first century. “The term “humanities” is difficult to define in part because it is used in at least two different ways: one to denote specific branches of learning or academic disciplines that explore human experience and values both past and present; and two to describe ways of thinking about the human condition” (Collins). Both honorable novelists and musicians previously mentioned such as Anton Chekhov, Henrik Ibsen, Scott Joplin, and Francis Scott Key paved the way for young twenty-first century authors and musicians to be able to make history and inspire young artists for centuries and generations to come. The Realism Movement paved the way for novelists, artists and composers to express themselves. This movement allowed them to convey messages, and was ultimate influential argument of what realism is and that it truly represents the life that people live.
The authors of the Realism era wrote most of their stories about everyday middle-class people. Many of the authors wanted to write a story that people could relate to, and make them feel like they were actually in their story. In Leo Tolstoy’s, “The Kruetzer Sonata”, Henrik Ibsen’s “A doll house,” and Anton Chekhov’s “Seagull,” all of the authors tell about the actions and choices that each person has in their lives is what will dictate how their lives will draw out. This in very many ways is something that real everyday middle-class people could relate to, and in doing so, hopefully they could take what they have read and apply it to their lives.
After World War I, American people and the authors among them were disillusioned by the effects that war had on their society. America required a literature that would expound what had happened and what was happening to their society. The realistic movement of the late 19th century saw authors accurately depict life and its problems. This realistic movement evolved because of many changes and transitions in American culture. In the late 1800's, the United States was experiencing swift growth and change because of a changing economy, society, and culture. The increase of immigrants into America was one of the reasons. Realists endeavored to give a comprehensive picture of modern life by presenting the entire picture. The true definition of literary realism as defined by Encyclopedia Britannica is an approach that attempts to describe life without idealization or romantic subjectivity. Although realism is not limited to any one-century or group of writers, it is most often associated with the literary movement in 19th-century France, specifically with the French novelists Flaubert and Balzac. George Eliot introduced realism into England, and William Dean Howells introduced it into the United States. Realism has been chiefly concerned with the commonplaces of everyday life among the middle and lower classes, where character is a product of social factors and environment is the integral element in the dramatic complications.
Realism is a style of writing which shows how things are in life. It showed how mostly every person thought life was just perfect. They were not seeing the
History is the story and knowledge of the past. There are individuals that are interested by history and wish to study it by learning more. It is very informative to know what has happened in the past for self-knowledge. An individual cannot be naïve to the past including but not limited to how literature came to. One can understand literature more when they understand the time period the author wrote during and the way they wrote. There are several time periods different authors have been through with each period having specific beliefs. Romanticism is the time period that interests me the most; it was a time during the eighteenth century and focused on nature along with the individual’s expression of imagination and emotion.
Literary realism has been defined by George J. Becker in an essay called Modern Language Quarterly with three criteria: “verisimilitude of detail…an effort to approach the norm of experience…and an objective, so far as an artist can achieve objectivity, rather than a subjective or idealistic view of human nature and experience” (Pizer 1). This, however, is not the only definition of realism that exists. Donald Pizer proposed to define realism as is applied to the “late nineteenth-century American novel” (2). This is important ...
From the 1860’s to the late nineteenth century, realism was developed in France, spread to the United States, and onward into Europe (Realism).
Obviously, the subject of the movie “A Little Romance” is an archetypal romance. Many aspects of the story support this assertion. For example, the plot- Lauren and Daniel embark on a quest to Venice. Eventually, these two young lovers enjoy a triumphant return. Also, the archetypal characters help establish that it is a romance; Lauren represents a royal birth, with her glamorous upbringing and obvious affluence, and Daniel represents humble beginnings. With his sleazy behavior and relative power, the director is the evil king. Both Lauren and Daniel have a false parent, but Lauren’s mom doubles as a blocking parent. Young and in love, the couple must navigate these pitfalls and others with the help of two wise men- Julius and Lauren’s stepfather-
The Dark Romantics or Gothic Fiction was part of the Romanticism Movement that emphasized the use of primitive, medieval, wild and mysterious elements including supernatural events and horrifying situations. The Dark Romantics took place in the eighteen hundreds and started as a reaction to the Transcendentalists, but did not entirely embrace the ideas of Transcendentalism. The Dark Romantic works were less optimistic than the transcendental works that believed that knowledge could be arrived at not just through the senses, but also through intuition and contemplation of the internal spirit. The Romantics took on a shadowy approach to the fantastical with the use of creepy symbols, horrific themes, and psychological effects of guilt and sin.
In many respects, and with hindsight, it seems natural that the Romantic composers and writers would take a new direction in their approach to expression, reacting against the classical and neo-classical ideas of reason and order from the previous age. It was a revolt against classicism, and against the pre-prescribed rules that defined it. The main catalyst for this change was the French Revolution in 1789, where the French monarchy and aristocracy was overthrown by a rebellion of the people and France became a republic. This, in a musical sense, had an immediate impact on French opera, with the emphasis of the stories now beginning to be drawn into the present as opposed to the ancient world, and the old hierarchy of the Gods and feudal systems. T...
Romanticism and realism can be presented through poetry, novels, or even paintings. These two styles of art were big in the 19th century. Romanticism is freeing the mind through different types of art. Realism is being real about ones circumstances, even if it’s ugly or not appealing. These two styles of writing are very important in literature.
Influence of Realism on Literature After World War I, American people and the authors among them were left disillusioned by the effects that war had on their society. America needed a literature that would explain what had happened and what was happening to their society. American writers turned to what is now known as modernism. The influence of 19th Century realism and naturalism and their truthful representation of American life and people was evident in post World War I modernism. This paper will try to prove this by presenting the basic ideas and of these literary genres, literary examples of each, and then make connections between the two literary movements.
Most realist artists believed that we should show the real life to public, and realist artists also put their effort on focusing people's real life, and they really hated to show fake stuff to people. (836, Kleiner) In addition, the Realism movement was against Romanticism because the Romanticism used the matter of exotic subject and exaggerated emotionalism to describe a thing or figures, which was too fake to better understand real life in specific times. The Realism movement gradually developed in other Western countries, it helped people to better understand the 19th century's real life among people and society. There were many advanced technology been created for industrial during the early 19th century, which could be strength people's belief on science and progress.
Roughly from 1815 to 1910, this period of time is called the romantic period. At this period, all arts are transforming from classic arts by having greater emphasis on the qualities of remoteness and strangeness in essence. The influence of romanticism in music particularly, has shown that romantic composers value the freedom of expression, movement, passion, and endless pursuit of the unattainable fantasy and imagination. The composers of the romantic period are in search of new subject matters, more emotional and are more expressive of their feelings as they are not bounded by structural rules in classical music where order, equilibrium, control and perfection are deemed important (Dorak, 2000).
There is many types of love, but the one that we all feel the most is the one we have for our close ones, pets, and even objects. That feeling is love. Love can be felt in a variety of ways; it may take your life, or it can just be a little crush. It is different for everyone. There is people who fall in and out of love on a daily basis, and there are those who look for love for an eternity. Love is not just for us people, it is for everyone and everything around us. We love anything we want to, but it is a way of expressing it where we show who we are.
Writers like Mark Twain wrote about what really mattered to the majority of the population. His stories were not considered fairy tales, but narratives. Realism was an important change in literature, because it allowed the average Joe story to be alright. Instead of paying or reading a story about something you will never have, a person will read about the everyday problems. People saw that humans had more in common than they taught. Mark Twain’s narrative, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn expose the literary movement that is known today as Realism. Mark Twain also criticizes the “ills” of the American society, which he hopes he could be able to correct by raising awareness to the problem.