In the history of
literature, the term realism describes the predominant literary movement
between 1848 and 1885. Realism is a certain form of artistic approach to
reality.
Realistic literature tries to imitate life in
all its manifestations. The Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle grasped
this type of art representation. To this day, realism is considered to be
one of the most important principles of representation.
At the beginning of the 19th century realism got
a significant "boom" again: Due to the political and social upheavals
and the technical developments at the beginning of the 19th century, the
realistic view first gained a new, overriding importance in England and France.
Realism, that is, the real representation of
life, was no longer understood as a mere stylistic device. Realism
challenged a confrontation with the forces that determine the life of society
and of the individual.
The term realism is derived from the Latin noun res , which can be translated as thing or thing , with realis roughly meaning factual . In linguistic usage, realistic means that a thing is shown or assessed in a realistic , realistic and lifelike manner . Accordingly, the term itself refers to what is fundamentally about: namely the realistic representation of a thing , which is ultimately the essential characteristic of the epoch.
Overview: characteristics of realism
The second half of the 19th century is characterized
by social changes, with science, technology, medicine and economy being
revolutionized in many areas and developing to an unprecedented
extent. These advances went hand in hand with numerous simplifications in
work and everyday life, but also meant the economic end for many people, as the
mechanization of the world of work meant numerous businesses, small farmers and
day laborers - especially in rural regions -simply made redundant
or made unemployed in a very short time. Due to this advancing
industrialization, people were drawn to the cities, which is why numerous rural
businesses were closed. As a result, the cities were overrun by people and
could barely cope with the enormous onslaught of job seekers.
The bourgeoisie, which was
established in the cities at this time, is faced with a new layer: a very
rapidly growing mass of factory workers looking for work, who increasingly
shaped the image of German cities, whereby social tensions, confrontations,
friction and disputes seem inevitable. The urban population now consisted
of a minority of the nobility and clergy who had guaranteed privileges, a
bourgeoisie that seemed financially secure, and the growing stratum of workers
who had no guarantees whatsoever in the event of unemployment, sickness or old
age, and 14 hours beyond that worked on the day together.
In addition to this new
situation, society is confronted with a comprehensive decline in values:
well-established norms are called into question through scientific,
philosophical findings, such as the Christian worldview, but also the class
society or life in large families. When the March Revolution in Germany
then failed in 1848, which was essential for the bourgeoisie insofar as it was
hoped for a political say, the bourgeoisie was largely shaken to its
foundations, which is why the role and task of the individual had to be
redefined.
And this role and function of
the single individual soon became the subject of art and literature. The
focus of attention shifted to the human problems of individual characters and
problems that the new social coexistence brought with it. A key feature of
the literature of this time were the questions: “Is this work
likely? So is it conceivable that what is shown actually behaves like
that? "
Nevertheless: the
representatives of realism did not yet show reality radically and nakedly, but
to a certain extent through the linguistic flower. As a result, they
depicted sober reality, but nonetheless made use of artful, poetic language,
which is why one speaks of poetic realism , especially
in relation to Germany . As a result, reality, as presented in
realistic works, is shaped poetically. Only then does naturalism demand a
completely radical and naked look at the world.
The literary closeness to
reality does not serve to accuse the social circumstances, but rather resembles
a distanced observation. The realists tend to show the fate of their protagonists and mostly
evade judgment and rarely take sides. The judgment is often left to the
reader, who becomes an observer of the realistic individual fate shown.
This effect can only be
realized if what is shown is presented as objectively and impartially as
possible. Accordingly, when showing reality, it is also about the greatest
possible objectivity of the narrator. With regard to the narrative perspective in epic
texts, this was mostly realized by an impartial and
authoritative narrator . In addition, the
use of irony as a stylistic
device and a melancholy mood as
the attitude of the narration often created a distance from the
narration.
This objective, judgment-free
showing could best be realized through literary genres, which on the one hand
offered the space to show the living conditions of the characters in detail,
but on the other hand made narrative distance possible: therefore the novel and
the short story in particular were popular forms of representation, whereby
each other the village history also offered, as this enabled manageable figure constellations and thus
the focus on the problems of the individual.
Basically, however, all epic
forms were reduced to a narrow circle of characters and offered a manageable scenario. In
order to ensure the likelihood claim, the stories were also
embedded in a room that was precisely defined in terms of location and
time. In order to increase the credibility even further, the action was
often set in the present and in the context of the respective poet.
In contrast to epic poetry,
realistic lyric poetry does not ostensibly attempt to show a
realistic world, but rather a distant, objective reality that leaves out
irrelevant things.. It was also about locating the language of
poetry closer to everyday language and breaking away from overloaded imagery . The drama faded
into the background, although the epoch also produced noteworthy dramas.
Historical background
The
second half of the 19th century is characterized by social, economic and
technical changes and upheavals. The March Revolution of 1848 was only a
few years ago and left behind, above all, disappointment, as it was hoped that
it would gain more political say, which, however, did not happen and advancing
industrialization from then on shaped everyday life and brought with it
completely new, unknown problems.
These
technical, medical, scientific and economic advances went hand in hand with
numerous simplifications in work and everyday life, but also meant the economic
end for many people, since the mechanization of the working world for numerous
trades, small farmers and day laborers - especially in rural regions - simply
became superfluous or made unemployed in no time. Due to this advancing
industrialization, people were drawn to the cities, which is why numerous rural
businesses were closed. As a result, the cities were overrun by people and
could barely cope with the enormous onslaught of job seekers.
The
bourgeoisie, which was established in the cities at this time, is faced with a
new layer: a very rapidly growing mass of factory workers looking for work, who
increasingly shaped the image of German cities, whereby social tensions,
confrontations, friction and disputes seem inevitable. The urban
population now consisted of a minority of nobility and clergy who had
guaranteed privileges, a bourgeoisie that seemed financially secure and the
growing working class (proletariat) who had no security whatsoever in the event
of unemployment, illness or old age and who toiled in the factories. together.
As already described under the characteristics of the
epoch, the authors of realistic literature strive above all to show reality
objectively, realistically and sometimes from a distance. The key question
here is whether what is being told can actually have happened in this form,
whereby the focus is on the individual (bourgeois) person and their dealings
with their everyday lives, society and themselves.
Nevertheless, the realist writers were not just
concerned with reproducing reality exactly - this was the endeavor
later pursued by the naturalists - but rather with processing it in
literary terms. Otto Ludwig described this form of literature as a "poetry
of reality, overflowing the bare parts of life [...] by painting the mood and
illuminating the most ordinary things in life with the light of ideas" . Consequently,
the realistic author should show everyday life, but find something special in
it, heighten it, exaggerate it and turn it into something beautiful and
artistic.
enclosing a small ornamental garden, on the open side of which one could see a pond with a water jetty and a chained boat and close by a swing , the horizontally laid board of which hung at the head and feet on two ropes each - the posts of the Beam position already a bit crooked. Between the pond and the roundabout and half-hiding the swing stood a couple of mighty old plane trees.
Psychological realism ":
One struggles above all with psychological problems. The tension and the behavior of the human being towards the environment, especially towards the material forces that storm the soul of the human being.
"Realism, realistic":
Contrasted with "idealism, idealistic", closeness to the present, closeness to facts, closeness to experience, closeness to everyday life; closely observing, looking directly at things, not at ideas, independent of subjective interpretation of reality. "Poetic realism": a) Substances that used to be were not literate, became "poetic": everyday life, worry, poverty, work, the farmer in the stable, the worker at the machine, the merchant behind the counter, the little nest, the twilight room, etc.