Realism in 19th-Century Literature: A Deep Dive
Realist Movement
During the second half of the nineteenth century, attention turned to reality, resulting in artistic realism. This movement sought to represent reality in accordance with the interests of bourgeois society. Scientific development led to technical progress, reflected in the booming industry, and a growing belief in progress, which was thought would lead to moral improvement. Authors became realistic chroniclers of the present and immediate past.
Characteristics of Realism
The realist author left behind the romantic individual, giving way to the social self. Escapism in space and time was replaced by the presentation of everyday life in the countryside and the city. The exposure of emotions and feelings was replaced by the analysis of social groups and environments and their influence on characters’ personalities.
The realist aesthetic aspiration was a desire for objectivity, to reflect reality as impartially as possible, as opposed to romantic fantasies. However, this did not mean writers weren’t interested in showing the inner world and psychology of individuals.
The Realist Novel
The novel was the literary genre most cultivated by realist authors. It combined the realistic presentation of individual and social aspirations of the period’s art. Historical aspects intertwined with fictional elements, contributing to the work’s verisimilitude. Novels were situated in the contemporary era, in real places known to the author, and featured documented descriptions.
Characters were normal individuals, described by their exterior, interior, and social environment, and expressed themselves according to their origin and education. Dialogues were presented in a straightforward style. An omniscient narrator was usually present, informing both historical details and characters’ thoughts, desires, and motives, and intervening in the story through feedback.
Sources of Realism
Realism was born in France in the first half of the nineteenth century. Its precursors included Stendhal’s novels The Red and the Black and The Charterhouse of Parma, Honoré de Balzac, author of The Human Comedy, a series of novels presenting French society, and Gustave Flaubert with his novel Madame Bovary. In England, Charles Dickens authored works such as Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, and A Christmas Carol. In Russia, Fyodor Dostoevsky, author of Crime and Punishment, and Leo Tolstoy, author of Anna Karenina, were prominent figures.
Realism in Spain
The first Spanish novel to display realistic features was by Cecilia Böhl de Faber, better known as Fernán Caballero.
- José María de Pereda: Author of realistic novels set in Cantabria, exalting and idealizing the customs of the people against the urban.
- Juan Valera: His works are set in Andalusia, particularly Cordoba, whose rural areas are idyllically reproduced. These novels often dealt with love and placed particular importance on characterization. The most prominent are Pepita Jiménez and Juanita la Larga.
The Serial Novel
In the nineteenth century, serialized novels, published in newspapers, achieved great public success. This common procedure was used by realist authors to publicize some of their stories.
Benito Pérez Galdós
Galdós’s novels reflect the society of his time. He devoted special attention to the characters, customs, places, and atmosphere of Madrid, which he depicted with rigorous documentation. His novels are notable for their characterization and integration of everyday life into the historical events of the time. He combined different narrative techniques: the use of the omniscient narrator, direct dialogue, and monologue. The language is consistent with the nature, origin, and education of the characters: from popular Madrid parlance to careful academic or political discourse.
- Episodios Nacionales: Forty-six stories that novelize nineteenth-century historical events, such as the Battle of Trafalgar and the Battle of Arapiles.
- Novels of the First Period: Galdós’s early novels—Doña Perfecta, Gloria, La familia de León Roch—are called thesis novels due to their focus on the author’s ideology: they confront characters with conservative mentalities with others holding progressive ideas that Galdós shared and defended.
- Contemporary Novels: In these novels, Galdós portrays the reality of Madrid, reflecting the rest of Spain, both in its places and its inhabitants.
- Spiritualist Novels: Influenced by Russian realism, these novels focus on the inner world of his characters and values like charity, embodied in individuals of great moral stature despite their humble status. This is the case with Misericordia, which features the generosity of Benigna (Nina), who supports her family, including her wife (Doña Paca), without them knowing, through the charity she collects in the parish of San Sebastian. Even when Nina is expelled from the house after the family’s economic situation improves, the loving maid doesn’t lose her love interest.
- Fortunata and Jacinta: Published in two parts in 1886 and 1887, this novel presents the love of the same man for two women from different social groups: Jacinta, representative of the commercial bourgeoisie, and Fortunata, a beautiful woman of the people. Juan Santa Cruz has an affair with Fortunata but marries Jacinta. However, Fortunata, though she marries another man, does not renounce her love for Juan and has a child with him. Before dying, Fortunata gives the child to the barren Jacinta, who raises him with her husband.
Benito Pérez Galdós:
Born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, he moved to Madrid at a young age. A journalist and member of parliament, he was primarily considered a writer who, by reflecting the immediate past and present, contributed to the moral education of his readers. He was prevented from receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature and eventually became blind.