Dualism and Naturalism in 19th-Century Realist Novels
Religious and Ideological Dualism
One of the major themes in realist and naturalist novels is the clash between different conceptions of the world, offering a dualistic approach to life. One of the most prominent dualisms is shown through the confrontation between clericalism and anticlericalism. The defense or attack on religion often focuses on the clergy that officially represents it. Moreover, the political vision of the literary message was also observed after 1868, and authors reveal their particular political ideologies in their novels. As an expression of these thematic clusters, arguments concerning the administrative world appear, from the chiefs of provinces to the problems of the unemployed, due to the political mechanics of party shifts in power. Every change of government meant an end to administrative financiers linked to the previous sophomore.
Ideological dualism is reflected in the scenarios chosen to develop the arguments. We encounter the clash between rural and urban areas. Novelists of conservative ideology tend to idealize rural life, which hosts “good deeds” and “positive” landscapes, while the urban world stages “negative” aspects. In contrast, representatives of liberal ideology tend to prefer urban settings or highlight the negative side of rural society.
Naturalism
Naturalism is a derivation of the realist novel, initiated by the French writer Emile Zola. Naturalistic authors believe that man is not free but is determined by social circumstances and biological inheritance. In their novels, there is a certain complacency in the most unpleasant and repulsive aspects of reality. The main representative of naturalism in Spain was the Galician writer Emilia Pardo Bazan, author of novels such as The Tribune and Los Pazos de Ulloa.
Novels of Galdos
- Thesis novels: These novels pose an ideological confrontation between liberal and traditionalist characters. For example, Doña Perfecta.
- Contemporary novels: Set in Madrid, the most outstanding are Storms, Miau, and Fortunata and Jacinta, his masterpiece. The latter features the struggle of two women, one as a lover and one as a wife, for the love of the irresponsible and mean Juanito Santa Cruz.
- Spiritualist novels: Featuring idealistic, quixotic characters, these novels accentuate irrational elements. Examples include Mercy, Nazarin, and Tristana.
Galdos’s realism is characterized by its openness to irrational elements (dreams, madness, etc.), as well as a strain of Cervantes’s humor. In Clarin’s novel, The Judge’s Wife stands out.
Marriage and Adultery
When difficulties arise in marital love, we encounter a privileged argument in the novels of the second half of the nineteenth century: adultery. The fatal outcome of the adulterous situation is the most common. This thematic focus is backed by social condemnation at the time, especially when it comes to women. Faced with this “real” situation, it is not surprising that the literary character of these events is, across Europe, the woman: Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, Theodor Fontane’s Effi Briest, and the Spanish La Regenta by Ana de Clarin.
The man involved in adultery presents a different situation. If single, he is marked with dyes of the traditional Don Juan, although deprived of the glorious halo he had in previous literature. If he is an unfaithful husband, his behavior appears as a libertine, morally reprehensible but worthy of apology as a slave to his natural tendencies.