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Realism and Naturalism: An Historical Context
Bonjour, Monsieur Courbet, by Gustave
Courbet, 1854.
Naturalism and Realism are literary movements which are
closely linked. Some writers, such as Guy de Maupassant, are
considered both naturalists and realists. Try to identify the
subtle differences between these two literary styles as you
read.
Definition of Realism
Encarta explains realism, saying,
Realist literature is defined particularly as the fiction produced in Europe and the
United States from about 1840 until the 1890s, when realism was superseded by
naturalism. This form of realism began in France in the novels of Gustave
Flaubert and the short stories of Guy de Maupassant. In Russia, realism was
represented in the plays and short stories of Anton Chekhov. The novelist
George Eliot introduced realism into English fiction; as she declared in Adam
Bede (1859), her purpose was to give a "faithful representation of commonplace
things." Mark Twain and William Dean Howells were the pioneers of realism in
the United States. One of the greatest realists of all, the Anglo-American novelist
Henry James, drew much inspiration from his mentors, Eliot and Howells . . . .
In general, the work of these writers illustrates the main tenet of realism, that
writers must not select facts in accord with preconceived aesthetic or ethical
ideals but must set down their observations impartially and objectively.
Concerned with the faithful representation of life, which frequently lacks form,
the realists tended to downplay plot in favor of character and to concentrate on
middle-class life and preoccupations, avoiding larger, more dramatic issues.
(para. 4-5)
Definition of Naturalism
The Naturalism movement in literature grew out of Realism. In “Literary Naturalism,” Bruce
Clary writes, “Naturalism is an extension or continuation of Realism with the addition of
materialistic determinism” (para. 1), which “is an application of scientific determinism to
fiction. Scientific determinism, which derived from Darwinian thought, is the belief that all
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supposed acts of the will are actually the result of external forces that determine those acts”
(6).
Dr. Donna Campbell adds,
The term naturalism describes a type of literature that attempts to apply
scientific principles of objectivity and detachment to its study of human beings.
Unlike realism, which focuses on literary technique, naturalism implies a
philosophical position: for naturalistic writers, since human beings are, in Emile
Zola's [see the next section] phrase, "human beasts," characters can be studied
through their relationships to their surroundings (para. 1).
This method was influenced by a variety of people, including:



Claude Bernard (1813-1878): “Claude Bernard: A Brief Biography” states that Bernard
“was a French physiologist, one of the most important of all times, and who is
considered the ‘father’ of modern experimental physiology” (para. 1). Writing in An
Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine, Bernard writes, “the experimental
method is nothing but reasoning by whose help we methodically submit our ideas to
experience, - the experience of facts” (Sabbatini para. 5).
Hippolyte Taine (1828-1893): Taine was a French historian and critic. Donna Campbell,
in “Naturalism in American Literature,” explains, “Taine’s observation that ‘virtue and
vice are products like vitriol and sugar’--that is, that human beings as ‘products’ should
be studied impartially, without moralizing about their natures” (Campbell para. 1).
Emile Zola (1840-1902): Zola, according to The Encyclopædia Britannica, was a “French
novelist, critic, and political activist who was the most prominent French novelist of the
late 19th century . . . . noted for his theories of naturalism” (“Emile” para. 1). Zola
described this method in Le Roman Experimental (The Experimental Novel) in 1880.
Donna Campbell in “Naturalism in American Literature” goes on to write,
Through this objective study of human beings, naturalistic writers believed that
the laws behind the forces that govern human lives might be studied and
understood. Naturalistic writers thus used a version of the scientific method to
write their novels; they studied human beings governed by their instincts and
passions as well as the ways in which the characters' lives were governed by
forces of heredity and environment. Although they used the techniques of
accumulating detail pioneered by the realists, the naturalists thus had a specific
object in mind when they chose the segment of reality that they wished to
convey. (para. 2)
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Works Cited
Bernard, Claude. “An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine.” An Introduction to
the Study of Experimental Medicine. 1927. New York: Dover Publications: 1957. Kindle
edition.
Campbell, Donna. “Naturalism in American Literature.” Faculty Website. Washington State
University. n.d. Web. 21 Dec. 2014.
Clary, Bruce. “Natural Realism.” Course Handout. McPherson College. n.d. Web. 21 Dec. 2014.
Courbet. Bonjour, Monsieur Courbet. 1864. Wikimedia Commons. Musée Fabre, Montpelier,
France. Web. 21 Dec. 2014.
“Emile Zola.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica. n.d. Web. 21 Dec. 2014.
“Realism (Art and Literature).” AutoCWW Research Program. Microsoft Encarta Online
Enclyclopdia. 2000. University of Colorado, Boulder. n.d. Web. 21 Dec. 2014.
Sabbitini, Renato M. E. “Claude Bernard: A Brief Biography.” Mind & Brain: Electronic Magazine
on Neuroscience. Teleneurosciences Center, The Edmund Institute (Brazil). n.d. Web. 21
Dec. 2014.