Realism &
Naturalism
THE 504
S.E. Woodson
What is Realism?
- In the arts, the accurate, detailed,
unembellished depiction of nature or of contemporary life. Realism
rejects imaginative idealization in favor of a close observation
of outward appearances
- Rejection of the artificiality
of both the Classicism and Romanticism of the academies
- necessity for contemporary society
in an effective work of art
- Realists attempted to portray
the lives, appearances, problems, customs, and mores of the middle
and lower classes
- the unexceptional, the ordinary,
the humble, and the unadorned
- Realists conscientiously set
themselves to reproducing all the hitherto-ignored aspects of
contemporary life and society--its mental attitudes, physical
settings, and material conditions
Background
- Political
- Technological
- Intellectual Developments
Intellectual
Background
- August Comte (1798-1857), often
considered to be the "father of Sociology," developed
a theory known as Positivism
- Positivism: an encouragement for understanding
the cause and effect of nature through precise observation
- Sociology: natural laws of human society for the
betterment of industrialized humans
Intellectual
Background
- Charles Darwin published The
Origin of Species in 1859, and creates a worldwide stir which
exists to this day. Darwin suggests that life developed gradually
from common ancestry and that life favored "survival of
the fittest."
- The implications of Darwin's
theory were threefold:
- 1.people were controlled by
heredity and environment
- 2.behaviors were beyond our
control
- 3.humanity is a natural object,
rather than being above all else
Intellectual
Background
- Karl Marx (1818-1883) in the late 1840s espoused a political
philosophy arguing against urbanization and in favor of a more
equal distribution of wealth
Beginning of
the Movement
- Thesis: Art--according to the
realist view--had as its purpose the betterment of humankind
- Began in France and by 1860
had some general precepts:
- 1.truth resides in material
objects which we perceived through all five senses--truth is
verified through science
- 2.the scientific method through
observation
- 3.human problems could be solved
through science
Honoré
de Balzac (1799 to 1850)
- "It is no longer possible
for the theatre to be anything but true, as my novels have attempted
to be. But the creation of truth is not given to Hugo, whose
talentt carries him into lyricism, nor to Dumas, who has gone
past it never to return; he cannot be again what he has been.
Scribe is finished. New talents must be sought."
Artists of Realism,
Act I
- FRANCE
- Alexandre Dumas fils (1824-1895)
- Emile Augier (1820-1889)
- François Delsarte (natural
"laws" of expression)
- Adolphe Montigny (director of
the Gymnase)
- NORWAY
- Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906)
- England
- Thomas William Robertson (1829-1871)
- Henry Irving (1838-1905)
- George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
Henrik Ibsen
(1828-1906)
- Audiences were often disturbed
by Ibsen's "unhealthful and injurious" plays. Critics
had a word for his work -- it was Ibscene.
- "When A Doll's House
was first presented, an audience sat perfectly still after the
final curtain. They were waiting for the last act when Nora would
return repentant to her husband. The stage manager had to appear
and tell them that was all, they could go home. It was a dumfounding
jolt that set wifes practicing door slams and made husbands irritable
and nervous."
- (Philip Lewis, Trouping.
How the Show Came to Town, 1973. pg. 194.)
Artists of
Realism, Act II
- RUSSIA
- Ivan Turgenev (1818-1883)
- Alexander Ostrovsky (1823-1886)
- Anton Chekhov (1860-1904)
- UNITED STATES
- Edwin Booth (Booth's Theatre)
- Augustin Daly
- Steele MacKaye
Naturalism
- "In the present age of
experimental science," the artist should emulate the scientist,
in both method and aim, the method being the study of objective
phenomena, the aim "an exact analysis of man"--Zola
- "A fragment of nature seen
through a temperament"--Zola
- "A play is a slice of life
placed on the stage with art."--Jean Jullien
Emile Zola (1840-1902)
- Metaphor of science
- Whenever a writer seeks to capture
truth, naturalism is to some degree involved
- More influential as theorist
than as artist
- Never forgets the contribution
of the artist's personality
August Strindburg
(1894-1912)
- Preface to Miss Julie
is probably the best known statement on naturalist theatre
- Zola pushed almost to parody
(esp. the objective stance)
- Modern characters should indeed
have no "character" in the traditional sense of a predictable
set of reactions drawn from type; they should instead reflect
the variety of forces playing upon them
- Major misogynist