美国现实主义.merican Realism.pptVIP

American Realism (1860-1914) I. The Rise of Realism: Historical Background C. Immigrant Booming II. American Realism (1860-1914) C. The Characteristics of American Realism D. Regional and Local Color Writings: the Early Stage of Literary Realism E. Representative Writers III. Mark Twain (1835-1910) A. Mark Twain’s Life B. Mark Twain’s Main Works C. Characteristics of Mark Twain D. The differences between Howells, James and Mark Twain IV. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) B. Main Characters C. Themes D. Writing Style and Characteristics * I. The Rise of Realism: Historical Background II. American Realism III. Mark Twain IV. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) “The industrial North had triumphed over the agrarian South, and from that victory came a society based on mass labor and mass consumption.” “an age of extremes”---“of decline and progress, of poverty and dazzling wealth, of gloom and buoyant hope” The new intercontinental rail system, inaugurated in 1869, and the transcontinental telegraph, which began operating in 1861, gave industry access to materials, markets, and communications. The constant influx of immigrants provided a seemingly endless supply of inexpensive labor as well. D. Social Problems Problems of urbanization and industrialization appeared: poor and overcrowded housing, unsanitary conditions, low pay (called wage slavery), difficult working conditions, and inadequate restraints on business. Broadly defined as the faithful representation of reality or verisimilitude, realism is a literary technique practiced by many schools of writing. Although strictly speaking, realism is a technique, it also denotes a particular kind of subject matter, especially the representation of middle-class life. A. Realism B. American Realism In American literature, the term realism encompasses the period of time from the Civil War to the turn of the century during which William Dean Howells, Rebecca Harding Davis, Henry James, Mark Twain, and others