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

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

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.)

"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)

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