Realism in the English Novel Criticism
The evolution of realism in the English novel marks a significant shift in literary history, establishing the novel as a predominant form in the mid-eighteenth century, primarily through the works of Samuel Richardson and Henry Fielding. Prior to this, early prose fiction often faced criticism for its perceived lack of authenticity, relying on narrative devices to assert realism by presenting fictional stories as factual accounts. As noted by Arthur Jerrold Tieje, authors before Richardson engaged in a 'striving toward a crude form of realism' to gain readers' credence.
Through their narrative styles, Richardson and Fielding contributed significantly to the maturation of the English novel, emphasizing direct narratives, attention to detail, and a focus on individual consciousness, as discussed by Walter Raleigh. This approach was described by Ian Watt in The Rise of the Novel as 'formal realism,' a cornerstone in the novel's development.
By the eighteenth century's end, novels were embraced as fictional constructs, with realism evolving to emphasize 'particularity of description' and 'the primacy of individual experience,' highlighting a shift towards depicting everyday life and the mundane. This was a departure from earlier genres' focus on the fantastical, aligning more closely with the depiction of middle-class life and the rise of the middle class in Western Europe, signaling broader social changes.
Realism's rejection of romance's idealistic narratives is epitomized in works like Cervantes' Don Quixote, where the clash between romantic ideals and the 'real' world underscores a broader literary transformation. This evolution continued into the nineteenth century, with naturalists like Émile Zola pushing realism to portray human imperfections and societal flaws with stark detail. Bliss Perry, in his essay on realism, underscores its enduring effort to 'depict things as they are, life as it is.'
The broad applicability of realism ensures that even works with romantic elements can be considered realist due to their descriptive style. This versatility has played a crucial role in realism's rise to prominence, becoming almost synonymous with the novel itself by the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Contents
- Representative Works
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Essays
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Richardson and Fielding
(summary)
In the following chapter from his The English Novel, Raleigh discusses both the roots of prose fiction in drama and its maturation in the works of Samuel Richardson and Henry Fielding. Much of the credit that he gives these authors depends on the presence of realism in their fiction, especially 'direct' narrative from a character's point of view, attention to detail in description, and a focus on the processes of individual consciousness.
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Rise of Realism
(summary)
In the following essay, Tieje unearths in fiction previous to Richardson a 'striving toward a crude form of realism,' which he defines as an author's desire 'to gain the implicit credence of the reader'—that is, strategies and styles fashioned to convince the reader that the story is factual rather than imaginative.
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Realism
(summary)
In the excerpt that follows, Perry first examines the primary meanings of 'realism' in both fine art and literature from the Renaissance through the twentieth century and subsequently proposes a definition of realism as an 'effort to depict things as they are, life as it is.'
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The Rise of the Novel: Studies in Defoe, Richardson and Fielding
(summary)
Watt's The Rise of the Novel has remained one of the most important critical works on the English novel. In the two chapters reprinted below, Watt claims formal realism as the single most significant ingredient in the novel's rise to precedence as a literary genre.
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Richardson and Fielding
(summary)
- Further Reading