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Ms. Richmond English 231 Realism, Regionalism and Naturalism The United States has lost the positive, idealistic attitude of the pre-Civil War, transcendental era. Industrialization is really taking off. Electricity, automobiles and skyscrapers are invented, factories are thriving, goods are mass-produced for the first time ever, and the country is still divided even though the war is over. Many Americans are moving west to take advantage of land offered by the Homestead Act (1862). Immigrants flow into America, changing its face and greatly increasing the population of cities. With industrialization comes many problems in society – poverty, child labor, disease, and more, particularly in overcrowded cities. Realism: Began after the Civil War (roughly 1865-1910) Portrays real life; tries to be objective and true (unlike Romanticism) “it is more important to adhere to concrete facts than to present idealized versions or existence” (Lathbury 88) Focuses on the here and now – instead of the spiritual like transcendentalists (Lathbury 8) Skeptical of moral absolutes (Lathbury 8) Regionalism Runs roughly from 1860-1910 Literature that is particular to a certain area of the United States Contains local dialect Mark Twain is best known author Naturalism: Movement that occurred roughly from 1890-1910 Sprung from Realism There is a cause and effect relationship between heredity/economics/nature/fate and human destiny (Lathbury 16). Characters in this fiction are passive. Nature is “indifferent to human wants and needs” (Lathbury 16). Adherents believe that God has disappeared. Usually depicts a harsh reality. Individual is powerless in the face of industrialization (“Prentice” 471). a result of American’s greater interest in science, particularly biology Major authors: Mark Twain Henry James Edith Wharton Stephen Crane Jack London W.E.B. DuBois Upton Sinclair Theodore Dreiser Bret Harte Kate Chopin Edgar Lee Masters Willa Cather Works Cited Lathbury, Roger. Realism and Regionalism (1860-1910). New York: DWJ Books, LLC, 2006. Prentice Hall Literature: Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes – The American Experience. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc., 2005.