What is realism? Society and history in the late 19th century
Realism is a style of writing that shows life as it is: ordinary people, real places, real money problems. It grew strongly in the second half of the 19th century.
Why then?
- Cities and factories grew fast, and many people moved to towns.
- Newspapers and schools spread, so more people could read.
- Science made people want facts, causes and proof.
- A new middle class (clerks, shopkeepers, teachers) wanted to read about itself.
Romantic writers loved feeling, wild nature and grand heroes. Realists answered with observation: look closely, choose true details, explain causes. Some realist writers still used old classical ideas: clear order, balance and a clear moral. Realism did not replace the older styles overnight; the two often mix in one book.
Society and human types
A realist writer shows a whole society in a small place. Characters are often social types: the ambitious merchant, the worried clerk, the proud landlord, the poor farmer, the dreaming student. A type stands for a group, but a good writer still gives each person a voice, a habit and a secret.
The writer also shows how money, work and class push people to choose as they do. The plot follows real causes: debt, a bad harvest, a bribe, a lost job. Luck and magic play a small part.
Literary societies, journals and criticism
A literary society is a group of writers, thinkers and readers who meet to discuss books and ideas. Many such groups sprang up across Europe and elsewhere. One example is the Junimea society in Iași (Romania, founded 1863), whose journal Convorbiri literare published new stories and essays and judged them.
A journal carries work and opinions to readers. Together, writers, journals, critics, schools and readers form a literary system.
Literary criticism
Criticism explains and judges books. In direction criticism a critic judges literature by the direction it should give a society (for example, serving the nation or the people). Other critics judge mostly beauty and skill. Good criticism gives reasons from the text, not only opinions.
Realist forms: short story, memoir, comedy, critical text
Fiction is invented story, but a realist writer makes it feel true. Common forms:
- Realist short story: a few characters, a real place, one turning point, a quiet or sad end.
- Memoir: a true account of the writer's own past, with real events and people.
- Comedy: the comic comes from showing a type's weakness (greed, vanity, fear of gossip) until the audience laughs and also thinks.
- Critical text: an essay that explains and judges a work or a trend.
How to read a realist text (exam skills)
Use four steps: 1 Setting (where and when?), 2 Characters (which social types?), 3 Causes (what led to what?), 4 Voice (does the writer judge, laugh or just show?). Then quote one detail from the text as proof. Compare with a romantic text: where is the grand hero or wild nature?
Key formulas and definitions
- Realism = ordinary people + real places + real causes
- Social type = a character who stands for a group (clerk, landlord, merchant…)
- Literary system = writers + journals + critics + schools + readers
- Comic = a human weakness shown until we laugh and think
- Reading steps: Setting, Characters, Causes, Voice
Worked examples
1. A story shows a clerk who borrows money for his sister's wedding and then cannot pay it back. Why is this realist?
It has an ordinary person (a clerk), a real money problem, and a chain of real causes (wedding, loan, debt). There is no magic or grand adventure.
2. Name the romantic and realist details: (a) a lonely hero on a misty mountain, (b) a queue at a ration shop.
(a) is romantic: wild nature, strong feeling and a grand hero. (b) is realist: an everyday place and ordinary people.
3. Which social type do these clues point to: counts coins, worries about interest, praises his own goods?
A merchant. Money and profit shape what he does.
4. A comedy shows a man who is afraid of what neighbours will say. How is this comic?
Fear of gossip is a human weakness. The play makes it bigger and funnier until the audience laughs and then thinks about their own habits.
5. Write a three-event cause chain for a realist story about a farmer.
Rain fails, so the crop is poor. The farmer borrows seed money, so he owes the moneylender. He cannot repay, so he leaves for city work. Each event causes the next.
6. In direction criticism, what does a critic ask?
What direction does this book give to society? Does it help the people, the nation, education? Then the critic judges the work by that purpose, with reasons from the text.
Common mistakes
- Thinking realism means copying everything. A writer still chooses details and shapes the story.
- Calling every sad story realist. Realism is about honest, ordinary, caused events, not sadness alone.
- Believing realism ended romanticism at once. Both styles often live in the same book.
- Treating a social type as the whole person. A good character has more than the type.