Realism in Literature: Social Impact and Narrative Techniques
Realism in Literature
Major Impact of Social Changes and Scientific Developments
Realism had a major impact on social changes and scientific developments in the field of art and literature. The bourgeoisie abandoned the ideology of romanticism, which was too exalted, and replaced it with a realistic mindset more appropriate to a period no longer looking for radical changes. Social reality is described as it is and not as it should be. It seeks, above all, objectivity. The writer applies the experimental method, trying to get his work to reflect social reality accurately. Subjectivity, the author, and their feelings should be excluded from the work. The novel thus becomes a reflection, a mirror of life.
Language
Often, geographical, social, and situational variations are used to reflect the narrated world. Language was established as a key resource for the characterization of environments and, above all, to characterize the characters, who, through their use of language, are distinguished and displayed according to their geographical origin, socio-cultural level, and situation.
Topics
Conflict within the individual and society is a theme present and relates to the opposition between society and nature, which is exalted. The individual, a misfit, is facing the community and is usually defeated. In the realistic novel, a conjunction occurs between history and private life. Historical events are referred to in the story and the characters’ conversations, introducing parallelism. Urban and rural places become very important. The narrative generally respects chronological temporality.
Plot
The narrative material is often organized through contrasts that preclude situations, characters, and world views.
The arguments are based on everyday, vulgar reality. These are no longer extraordinary stories, full of adventure and unusual events, but stories that claim to be credible, featuring ordinary characters taken from reality. They are not placed in the past or exotic environments but in the immediate context, recognizable, contemporary, and the reader’s own.
Characters
The characters represent a social group but also show individual personalities, fighting and rebelling. Many of them appear in several novels by the same author. The works revolve around a protagonist. The literary work becomes the story of the clash between their personal and social norms. In this clash, the protagonist is usually defeated. In large part, this is the conflict that had arisen in romanticism, only now the author takes the side of reality, punishing the failure of characters who are too idealistic.
Narrator
The narrator tells the realistic story in the first or third person and sometimes combines both. Often, the omniscient narrator relates from an external perspective than history, although sometimes introduces an internal perspective to express the inner world of characters. The narrator constantly intervenes: commenting, prosecuting facts, judging beings satirically, ironically, educationally, or moralistically. Along with the traditional narrative and reported speech, they include dialogue, free indirect style, and the interior monologue.
Narrative Techniques
Detailed and Documented Descriptions: Realistic writers took advantage of observation and documentation to reflect reality. The descriptions of places, beings, and objects are explanatory and functional, characterizing and justifying the behavior of the characters.