1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910781568803321

Autore

Barrish Phillip

Titolo

The Cambridge introduction to American literary realism / / Phillip J. Barrish [[electronic resource]]

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge : , : Cambridge University Press, , 2011

ISBN

1-107-22631-7

1-139-15253-X

1-283-34098-4

9786613340986

1-139-15995-X

1-139-02167-2

1-139-16095-8

1-139-15890-2

1-139-15539-3

1-139-15714-0

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xii, 225 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Collana

Cambridge introductions to literature

Disciplina

810.9/1209034

Soggetti

American fiction - 19th century - History and criticism

American fiction - 20th century - History and criticism

Literature and society - United States - History - 19th century

Literature and society - United States - History - 20th century

Realism in literature

Popular literature - United States - History and criticism

National characteristics, American, in literature

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction: American literary realism -- 1. Literary precursors, literary contexts -- 2. The 'look of agony' and everyday middle-class life: three transitional works -- 3. Creating the 'odor' of the real: techniques of realism -- 4. Conflicting manners: high realism and social competition -- 5. 'Democracy in literature'? Literary regionalism -- 6. 'The blab of the pave': realism and the city -- 7. Crisis of agency: literary



naturalism, economic change, 'masculinity' -- 8. 'Certain facts of life': realism and feminism -- 9. 'The unjust spirit of caste': realism and race -- 10. New Americans write realism -- Conclusion: realisms after realism.

Sommario/riassunto

Between the Civil War and the First World War, realism was the most prominent form of American fiction. Realist writers of the period include some of America's greatest, such as Henry James, Edith Wharton and Mark Twain, but also many lesser-known writers whose work still speaks to us today, for instance Charles Chesnutt, Zitkala-Ša and Sarah Orne Jewett. Emphasizing realism's historical context, this introduction traces the genre's relationship with powerful, often violent, social conflicts involving race, gender, class and national origin. It also examines how the realist style was created; the necessarily ambiguous relationship between realism produced on the page and reality outside the book; and the different, often contradictory, forms 'realism' took in literary works by different authors. The most accessible yet sophisticated account of American literary realism currently available, this volume will be of great value to students, teachers and readers of the American novel.