Literary realism: main characteristics

Realism is a cultural and artistic movement that influenced in all fields of culture and knowledge: literature, philosophy, painting... It was a current that was betting on the return to reality, to observe the world again without the veil that the romantics had imposed. A new review of society without filters and without fantasies in order to become aware of the current times and of the political-social reforms that had to be carried out. In this lesson from a TEACHER we want to show you the characteristics of literary realism So that, in this way, you can better understand what this artistic and literary movement was based on and learn to better analyze the novels of this current.

Realism is a social and artistic current that took place during the second half of the XIX. It appeared at a sociopolitical moment of progress and scientific advancement, which is why a certain religious freedom began to exist that left behind the influence of Catholicism and the Christian church that, until now, had been very present in the letters Hispanic. During the 19th century, we also experienced a great revolution in the field of transportation, the media, medicine and, of course, industry.

According to theorists, it is considered that Realism began in 1850 in France. This date is marked by the appearance of Stendhal, one of the novelists representing the genre. This author is considered the "father" of the movement because the characters he built had a very well defined psychological profile. For Stendhal, the novel had to be like a mirror.

As a result of his novels, there were many other authors who began to cultivate Realism and, little by little, it became the most followed and defining current of the moment. Names like Balzac, Alejandro Dumas, Charles Baudelaire or Gustave Flaubert they are part of the royal inheritance.

In Spain there were also great royalist authors who followed the trail started by the French. Some of the most prominent names are Benito Pérez Galdós, Emilia Pardo Bazán or Leopoldo Alas Clarín. All of them also drank from the literature of the Spanish Golden Age since, Cervantes or the picaresque novel of The Lazarillo de Tormesthey created a solid foundation on which to create this new literary consciousness.

But let's get into the matter now and discover what are the characteristics of literary realism. We must remember that this movement appeared as response to romanticism, a current that placed us in more fantastic and unreal planes to introduce ourselves to emotional characters and far from reality. Faced with this literary "delocalization" a new artistic trend appeared that put art and the artist back into physical and palpable reality: Realism.

Here we are going to discover the characteristics of Realism in literature so that, thus, you will know better what were the changes that began with this new artistic and philosophical current.

Imitation of reality

The romantics were artists who evaded reality and its historical context to evoke worlds more beautiful and far from political problems. On the other hand, with the irruption of Realism, we put reality back in the foreground and, the artists who followed this trend, aimed to create literary works that were a true reflection of reality.

For this reason, the author became a researcher of society and reality, "copying" meticulously everything that he captured to transmit it in his works. The "creative genius" typical of romanticism was now being exchanged for an artist who imitated reality in an objective way and away from emotions or feelings.

Humble and outcast characters

Due to this "return" to reality, another of the characteristics of Literary Realism is that the characters that appear in the works cease to be the romantic "heroes", that is, idealized beings belonging to the bourgeoisie, to return to the reality of the moment. For this reason, the protagonists of many of the romantic novels are humble people or belonging to marginalized classes of society who, in addition, are represented with all their characteristics: they speak, express themselves and communicate with their own jargon.

Due to the high presence of these characters within the literary production of the time, a new concept appeared in literature: determinism. This concept referred to a social fact and that is that all people are determined by their own social characteristics: both the place of birth, the social class or the gender. All of this marks and defines people's lives for the rest of their lives.

Colloquial language

Since the realistic authors wanted to imitate reality, the language they used in literary texts was a reflection of the linguistic reality of the country. Therefore, the presence of popular language, sayings or sayings are very present in these novels. In addition, if there are dialogues between people of different social classes, the authors used the expressions of this sociolect, although it could be vulgar.

Man is back in the spotlight

With Realism, the vision in which man was the main center of discussion and analysis is recovered. We came from a time when mythological themes, poetry and emotions had abounded but, now, all these "flourishes" are eliminated to analyze and study man as he is in the reality. With this, a literature is created that is more committed on a social and political level since, by observing the context, the authors denounce the painful situation to which many people are subjected.

An analysis of bourgeois life

It is said that Realism is the aesthetic current of the bourgeoisie and that it appeared precisely when this social class began to grow and gain prominence in the big cities. Many authors, in their novels, present characters and situations that were typical of bourgeois life: their relationships with money, their problems, and so on. This does not mean that, during the play, humble characters appeared but, normally, the protagonists and the main themes were about the bourgeoisie.

Social and political commitment

Another of the most outstanding characteristics of Literary Realism is that it was a movement that was very committed to the socio-political reform of the countries. And it is that the royalists were based on reality to denounce different situations and injustices that they saw taking place in large cities. A way of criticizing society from within and, thus, trying to regenerate it.

Elimination of sentimentality

One of the great changes that realistic literature brought about is that it sought to create an objective and descriptive narrative. Therefore, the appearance of feelings and emotions so typical of romantics, was in the background. What mattered was not how the author lived reality but to describe, in a faithful way, reality in all its splendor: both the beautiful things and the injustices. Therefore, they were betting on a type of descriptive, objective and narrative texts, turning the novel as the star genre of Realism.

Omniscient narrator

Because realistic texts had to be objective and descriptive, the narrator type that was used in these novels totally changed. Now the narrator used was the omniscient, a "superior" being who could describe in detail everything that happened in reality and without getting involved in the plot in the emotions of the characters.

Now that you know what the characteristics of Literary Realism are, it is important that we stop for a moment on Naturalism. This new trend is closely linked to Realism and, in fact, many critics consider it to be one step "further" of realistic literature.

Naturalism is where the concept of novel "deterministic"that we mentioned in the previous section. That is, a type of literature that featured characters who were determined by their social context. The destiny of all men was already written and, as much as they wanted to change it, they could not achieve it. The genetic inheritance and the influence of social environment they marked the destiny of the naturalistic characters.

The highest representative of Naturalism is Emile zolasince it was who indicated the theoretical principles of this new current. Due to the perception that man, no matter how hard he tried, was determined from his birth, Naturalism is a type of movement that is bathed in pessimism. To reflect the nature of this reality, naturalists became almost scientists: reality It is shown in a very objective, almost journalistic way, without any involvement of the emotions of the characters.

In this other lesson we will discover the characteristics of naturalism in The Pazos de Ulloa, by Emilia Pardo Bazán, one of the authors who joined this new trend.