The Realist Report

Realism is a literary and artistic movement that emerged in the 19th century. It aimed to depict life as it truly was, focusing on the struggles and triumphs of everyday people. Realism in art was characterized by portraying real life instead of fantasy, with artists like Gustave Courbet and Jean-Francois Millet leading the movement. Realism also influenced inventions like the telephone, photography, typewriter, and light bulb. In literature, realism emphasized detail and focused on the ordinary aspects of life, making stories relatable to readers. Authors like Charles Dickens, William Dean Howells, Mark Twain, and John Steinbeck were prominent figures of the realism movement. Have you ever read a book that creates a vivid picture in your mind that seems almost lifelike? Yes, I know exactly what you are talking about. What kind of books are those? These books were most likely created using the literature movement called realism. Today you will learn more about the realism movement and the various authors, books, inventions, and movements that occurred during this time period. Welcome back to The Realist Report. We are your hosts Nick, Isaac, Mitchell, and Aidan, and today we will be talking about how the realist movement impacted history. Realism not only inspired a lot of art, but also many books and inventions. Yes, realism was very influential to development throughout Europe and America. Although realism started in France, it quickly spread throughout the world starting movements. Realism influenced many artists to portray real life instead of fantasy. One of the influences of realism is anti-romanticism. This was when people started to move away from art in a romantic style and started to portray real life occurrences. A major pioneer of this movement was the artist Gustave Courbet. He was one of the first people to shine light on hardships of the lower classes art. Realism was widely rejected when it first started and even caused Gustave Courbet to exile himself to Switzerland. In Gustave Courbet's The Stone Breakers, it seems to be just two workers doing manual labor, but Courbet blurs the faces to try to portray that the lower class were seen as almost not humans because of their degrading and repetitive work. The artists of realism were very creative in how they display hidden messages in their art. A painting could look simple and have bright colors, but the author can display a deeper hidden meaning. Another popular realism artist was Jean-Francois Millet. He was another one of the first people to use realism in art. In many of Jean's paintings, he portrayed simple life, like working in the fields. In one of the most popular works, The Gleaners, you see the three women working in a field, but it has such a deeper meaning. Yes, if you look in the background, you can see the man on his horse watching from far away. This is supposed to signify how far away and segregated the upper and lower classes art were. Realism in art, not only was in France, but was also very prominent in other parts of the world. For example, Edward Hopper was an American artist in the early 1900s and still used realism in his art. One of my favorite pieces from him has got to be Nighthawks. In this piece, you can see an empty diner and a man sitting by himself. This is supposed to signify the sadness left behind from the war. In some art pieces, we still do not know the exact meaning of the work. A popular Russian painting by Ivan Kramusko has no name and is of unknown women. This painting is interesting because many people have theories about the origin of this work, but none are confirmed it is a simple painting of a woman. Realism did not come out of nowhere. There were many influences that caused realism. One of the main influences of realism was the Enlightenment. This was when the scholars started to bring back philosophies from ancient Greece. The Enlightenment made people reconsider things they had previously not thought about. This made people think about society in new ways. Instead of only portraying the upper classes, people began to move away from Romanticism and shine some light on the lower class with realism. The Enlightenment also led to new advances in science and technology due to the fact that people came to a new understanding of the universe. The thing I really like about realism is that people began to think on their own instead of conforming to the general ideas being pushed by society during this time. Realism also influenced many inventions and innovations during the 1800s. Realism occurred right after the Enlightenment and a portion of it took place during the Industrial Revolution. Two inventions that came about during this time period were the telephone and photography. These inventions are very influential and are still used today. The telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell and revolutionized communication. And obviously, cell phones still play a huge role in society today. Telephones set the stage for many new types of technology and communication devices. Photography was very influential because it allowed someone to capture a moment forever. It is fitting that photography was invented during realism because realist art tried to portray something as accurately as possible without leaving out any details. Several other inventions that were created during the mid-1800s dealt with literature and redefined the way we write. One of the inventions during this time was the typewriter. This made it way easier for authors to write and for people to make copies of books. The typewriter quickly became an essential for many people of this time. The only problem with the typewriter was that once you type something, you cannot go back and delete it like our computers today. Typewriters were so influential that they were even still used in offices until the 1980s, but then we switched up to personal computers. Another invention during this time was the light bulb. Wow, I never knew there was this many important inventions during the same time as realism. The light bulb was invented in 1879 by Thomas Edison. Using light bulbs was a much more practical way to light a home or other areas because early light bulbs could light homes for many hours. That must have been much easier than lighting and blowing out candles whenever you wanted some light in your house. Now that we have gone into detail about the arts and inventions of realism time period, let's hear a word from our sponsor, Tevin. Welcome back to The Realist Report. I'm one of your hosts, Aidan. And next we are going to be discussing the actual literary movement of realism and also some of the famous authors during the realistic period. Let's kick things off by discussing what exactly 19th century realism was all about. Realism was a literary movement that emerged in the 19th century aiming to depict life as it truly was. Authors during this time wanted to show the struggles and triumphs of everyday people, making their stories relatable to readers. Later in our podcast we will discuss more about four different authors that published popular realistic books. But for now, let's keep discussing the literary movement of realism. It's interesting how realism focused on the ordinary aspects of life. What made it different from other literary movements of the time? Well, one distinctive feature of realism was its emphasis on detail. Writers like Charles Dickens and William Dean Howells paid close attention to describing the everyday experiences and environments of their characters, making their stories feel incredibly vivid and lifelike. We will also go into more detail about these authors soon. Realism provided a platform for authors to shed light on presenting societal issues. How does it resonate with readers during the 19th century? Realism resonated with readers because it portrayed characters and situations that felt familiar and true to life. People could see themselves reflected in the stories, which made them all the more compelling and thought-provoking. People could easily connect with the characters and events that occurred in the stories. This caused many people to support novels that used realism. And unlike previous literary movements that focused on idealized works or heroic adventures, realism offered a more grounded and honest perspective on human experiences. Realism literature also provided novels that were much easier to connect to. I like the sound of that realistic literature. It sounds very easy to understand and make connections with. Now that we have discussed the literary movement of realism, we will now dive into the conversation about the history of realism. Let's start with the early days. When did realism first emerge as a literary movement? Realism started gaining traction in the mid-19th century as authors began to shift away from romanticism and idealism. Instead of knights in shining armor and damsels in distress, realism brought us stories about everyday folks with real-life struggles. That sounds very interesting. So what were some key milestones in the development of realism? Well, one major milestone was the publication of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain in 1884. It's considered one of the first great American realist novels. During this podcast, we will dive more into The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and its importance to realism. And let's not forget about Charles Dickens' works like Oliver Twist and Great Expectations. These novels painted a vivid picture of life in Victorian England and tackled social issues head-on. Wow! Those are some very popular and well-known books. How did realism continue to evolve in the 20th century? In the 20th century, realism continued to flourish, but also branched out into different forms. You had regionalism, naturalism, and even social realism, each putting its own spin on the genre. I hope that everyone has enjoyed the podcast so far. Now we will be diving deep into the authors of realism and some of the most famous realistic novels. Hope you enjoy. During the period of realism, there were many different famous authors who used realism in their writing. Today we will be discussing these four authors, William Dean Howells, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, and John Steinbeck. I hope you learn many new things about these authors. And I hope that you can learn more about the time of the realistic literature. First, we will start with one of the most famous realist authors, William Dean Howells, also known as the Dean of American Letters. William Dean Howells was an American realist novelist who lived from 1837 to 1920. He was a very smart child, and at one point during his life, he was studying five languages all at once. Wow! Five languages is a lot. Which languages did he study? Some of the languages he studied included French, Spanish, and German. William's career would first begin when he got a job offer from a company named The Atlantic Monthly. Here at The Atlantic Monthly, William would go on and write many well-known realism novels. I am very intrigued. What were the most famous novels that he wrote? William's most well-known realistic novels were A Modern Instance, The Rise of Silas Lapham, and A Hazard of New Fortunes. Wow! That's a lot of famous books. I'll have to do more research on these books so that I can learn more about realism and William's works. I know! William Howells was known for publishing a very great amount of novels. His fiction books were made up of very lifelike characters, and they were based on true, everyday human experiences that were easily able to be related to. William D. M. Howells seems like he's a very talented author. I'm going to have to research more of his books. William was very talented indeed. I hope everyone learns some more about him. On to the next author. The next author we will be discussing today is Mark Twain. Mark Twain was an American writer who lived from 1835 to 1910. One fun fact about Mark Twain is that Mark Twain was not really his actual name. It was only a pen name. What? I never knew that! What was his actual name? Yes, most people don't know that Mark Twain's real name is actually Samuel Langhorne Clemens. That's a very interesting fact about Mark Twain. Or should I say Samuel Longhorn Clemens? Even though we see Mark Twain as the super popular author who had everything, this was not the only case when he was a child. In fact, his father, John Clemens, died when Mark Twain was only 11 years old. Oh my gosh, that must have been really hard for him, especially being so young. Yes, Twain was affected deeply by his father's death, but he pushed past this to become an extremely talented author. Another interesting fact about Twain's life is that he actually was the father of a young girl. Another interesting fact about Twain's life is that he actually was the pilot on a steamboat before he was an author, and he briefly served in the Confederate Army until he realized that he was not meant to be a soldier. After this, he traveled to Nevada in search of gold and silver, where he was unsuccessful. Because of the failure, he hit the jackpot with gold and silver. He would then go on to start writing. I'm very interested in his life. What are some of his most well-known books? Some of Mark Twain's most famous books include The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and A Tramp Abroad. Which one of these books are your favorite? My favorite book that was written by Mark Twain is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Twain creates the character Huck Finn using many qualities of realism. Huck Finn is a young boy who is not very educated, and he fakes his own death to get away from his abusive father who is the town drunk. That sounds like a very sad story. I would like to purchase this book. It sounds very interesting. It is very sad at the start, but this book teaches a very important lesson that society is not always right, and that we need to make our own decisions sometimes. That sounds like amazing advice. Mark Twain was very close with the other realism author we discussed, William Dean Howells. They were close friends for their entire life, and they also learned many things from each other. The next author we will be discussing on The Realist Report is Charles Dickens. Charles Dickens came from a large family of eight, so it was very hard for Charles' father, John Dickens, to support the family. This caused Charles to be forced to work at a shoe-blacking warehouse where his father was in a debtor's prison. This experience in his life caused Dickens to feel abandoned by his parents. From this, he created the character Oliver Twist, who he based off of his childhood experiences. Creating this character is a great example of Dickens using realism because you can easily connect with Oliver Twist. Dickens' fame began to spread around the 19th century England because of his novel Pickwick Papers. Pickwick Papers is another great example of realism. In this book, Dickens successfully describes a lower-class, corrupt society. One of Dickens' most famous books using realism was Great Expectations. In this book, he uses ordinary characters, accurate descriptions of the setting, and issues that are common in everyday life. Great Expectations is one of my favorite realistic books. Everyone at home should really check it out. Charles Dickens was most known for the amount of books that he published, and he also published these books using serial publication, which is a very demanding way to publish. Dickens was also known for his excellent storytelling and characterization. Now that you have learned about three authors from realism time period, we will take a break for a minute before we review the next author and view an ad from our sponsor, State Farm. Thank you, Agent State Farm. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Cut! Hey, Arnold, I'm hearing neighbor. It's neighbor. That's what I said. Neighbor. Neighbor. Neighbor. Let's go again. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Cut! Now what? Neighbor. Yes, neighbor. Just like it says in the paper. Neighbor! That was the sheet. And you know it. Neighbor! They'll know! Neighbor! Neighbor! Bob! Bob! Bob! Arnold, I've got a bit of a script change. You'll love this. Thank you, Agent State Farm. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Cut! I'm the next neighbor. Welcome back to The Realist Report. I am your host, Isaac, and now we will be discussing the last of the four authors, John Steinbeck. Hope you enjoy. John Steinbeck was born in California in 1902. Both of his parents were hardworking and dedicated, and perhaps John received some of his character traits from his parents. John is known for his novels that use realism. Ever since John was a child, he wanted to be an author. He attended high school and college at Stanford, but he really only paid attention to the classes that could improve his writing skills. Sounds like he was very dedicated to writing. Yes, he was very dedicated. He had the dream of becoming an author, and he successfully accomplished it later in life. John's first popular work was Tortilla Flat, and this book gained him much popularity and money. So much money, in fact, John did not ever have to worry about money again in his life. One of John's most famous realistic works was Of Mice and Men, and this book shows an example of tragic realistic fiction. This story takes place during the Great Depression, and it really highlights the actual reality of the hardships that occurred during this time. Everyone should check it out. Of Mice and Men. It's a great read. Now that we have covered William Dean Howells, Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, and John Steinbeck, who were all famous authors who used realism, we are nearing the end of our podcast. Before that, we have one last word from the last sponsor of our podcast, Hyundai. Oh, you look good. Thank you. You look good. Thank you. Oh, you look good. Thank you. Hey, you're the guy taking my little girl out, huh? Yep. You know, why don't you go ahead and take my new car? Thanks, pops. Go ahead, baby. Watch this. Let's go! Favorite spot, favorite girl. You messed it with the wrong daddy! I'm taking her. Why? Carfinder, on the Hyundai Genesis. That's so rude. Here you go, sir. Because a dad's gotta do what a dad's gotta do. Honey, what'd you guys do tonight? Welcome back to the podcast. I'm one of your hosts, Nick, and now we will be finishing up with our realism podcast. I hope that everyone enjoyed the podcast, and we will be back live a week from today to talk about more literature. Thank you to everyone that tuned in. See everybody soon. Peace out. Bye. Bye.