American realism was an early 20th-century idea in art, music and literature that showed through these different types of work, reflections of the time period. These works of literature depicted a contemporary view of what was happening; an attempt at defining what was real. Writers and authors told a new story about Americans; boys and girls real Americans could have grown up with. Pulling away from fantasy and focusing on the now, American Realism presented a new gateway and a breakthrough—introducing modernism, and what it means to be in the present.
Notable Themes:
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by
Some call this the greatest American novel ever written. It's the story of a runaway boy, Huck Finn, and his friend Jim, a runaway slave, as they ride a raft on the Mississippi River and encounter mishaps and adventure when they go ashore.
American Literary Realism, Critical Theory, and Intellectual Prestige, 1880-1995 by
Focusing on key works of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American literary realism, Phillip Barrish traces the emergence of new ways of gaining intellectual prestige - that is, new ways of gaining cultural recognition as unusually intelligent, sensitive or even wise. Through extended readings of works by Henry James, William Dean Howells, Abraham Cahan and Edith Wharton, Barrish emphasises the differences between literary realist modes of intellectual and cultural authority and those associated with the rise of the social sciences. In doing so, he greatly refines our understanding of the complex relationship between realist writing and masculinity. Barrish further argues that understanding the dynamics of intellectual status in realist literature provides new analytic purchase on intellectual prestige in recent critical theory. Here he focuses on such figures as Lionel Trilling, Paul de Man, John Guillory and Judith Butler.
Henry James by
-- Brings together the best criticism on the most widely read poets, novelists, and playwrights -- Presents complex critical portraits of the most influential writers in the English-speaking world -- from the English medievalists to contemporary writers
The Jungle by
The Jungle