ENGL 352(S) American Realism
Beginning by examining the vivid, finely-grained photographs of Civil War battlefields taken by Matthew Brady, we will explore in this course the emergence of realism (and later, naturalism) in America between 1865 and 1920. Foremost will be our concern with how authors construct "the real" in narrative form: from point-of-view in James, to Howells' and Drieser's attempts to be objective and encyclopedic, to Stein's excessively naturalistic style in Three Lives. Of equal importance will be the ways in which realist writing intersects with contemporary issues of immigration, urbanization, corporate capitalism, the "woman question," "degeneration"-social and sexual-and the legacies of the Civil War. Some of the questions we will pursue are: What is the relationship between art and reality? Can fiction aid in or achieve reform? Or does the act of writing limit or contain social realities? Why have many accounts of "American Literature," which leap from the American Renaissance to the modernist period, omitted the majority of these writers? In addition to reading some of the "touchstones" of the realist tradition, this course seeks to widen the purview of the genre, asking, for example, what difference does it make in our understanding of Booker T. Washington to read his autobiography as instantiating the values of realism? Similarly, what might it mean to read Gertrude Stein as participating in the project of social reform? And what are the limits of the terms "realism" and "naturalism" when applied to the texts of the period? Readings may include authors from the following list: James, Howells, Clemens (Twain), Chesnutt, Wharton, Drieser, Norris, Washington, Crane, Hopkins, Riis, Jewett, DuBois, Stein, Hemingway. Requirements: active class participation, period-writing exercises, one short paper, one presentation, and a substantial seminar paper due at end of term. Major Seminar. Open only to English majors and qualified non-majors. Permission of English Department chair required; see information above. Enrollment limited to 15. (1800-1900)