现实+自然主义.pptVIP

The historical and socio-cultural background of American  Realism The American society after the Civil War provided rich soil for the rise and development of Realism. This period is characterized with changes, in relation to every aspect of American life, politically, economically, culturally, and religiously. First of all, politically, the Civil War affected both the social and the value system of the country. America had transformed itself into an industrialized and commercialized society. Wilderness gave way to civilization. The burgeoning economy and industry stepped up urbanization. However, economically, the changes were not all for the better. The industrialization and the urbanization were accompanied by the incalculable sufferings of the laboring people. Therefore, polarization of the wellbeing between the poor and the rich started to show up. Thirdly, as far as the ideology was concerned, people became dubious about the human nature and the benevolence of God, which the Transcendentalists cared most. What Mark Twain referred to as “ the Gilded Age” replaced the frontier and the spirit of the frontiersman, which is the spirit of freedom and human connection. Fourthly, the literary scene after the Civil War proved to be quite different a picture. The harsh realities of life as well as the disillusion of heroism resulting from the dark memories of the Civil War had set the nation against the romance. The Americans began to be tired of the sentimental feelings of Romanticism. Thus, started a new period in the American literary writings known as the Age of Realism, characterized by a great interest in the realities of life. The Gilded Age It refers to the period of gross materialism and blatant political corruption in the U.S. history during the l870s that gave rise to important novels of social and political criticism. The period takes its name from the earliest of these, The Gilded Age (l873), written by Mark Twain