The Stone Breakers by Gustave Courbet (1850)
Realism was an artistic and literary movement that began in France in the 1850s, after the 1848 Revolution. Seeking to be undistorted by personal bias, Realism believed in the ideology of objective reality and revolted against the exaggerated emotionalism of the Romantic movement by personal bias. Realism believed in the ideology of objective reality and revolted against the exaggerated emotionalism of the Romantic movement.
RE-ANCHORING EXPECTATIONS FOR THE CLASS:
Being on time
Electronics away
I'll post the list each day. As a reminder, with two instances, you will need to serve an after school detention.
Absenteeism- you are responsible for all work. If you have a legal absence, which I know because this is noted on the attendance, you have ten days to make up the work for full credit. Otherwise, you have two days to complete the work for full credit, after which you may turn in work for 50 points. No work means you have a zero. While you may collect any missing work at the beginning of class, in order to get further support you will need to see me before or after school, or periods 1, 2, 4 or 5.
Detailed and supplemental information is always available on the blog, as are the class handouts. If you are absent, you should be checking what you missed before hand. You are encouraged to send along any missing work electronically.
Where is the blog information? Everyday the address is on the blog at the beginning of class. It is also written out next to the smart board. And at then beginning of the year, the information was on you class criteria sheet.
Grades: you may check your grades anytime by checking your student e-mail. You do not need a parent connect account.
Due today: practice exercise on changing sentences from passive voice to active voice. Many of you completed the assignment in class on Friday. These are graded; you'll get these back today. Anyone who was here on Friday may turn the work in now for full or partial credit, depending upon the level of completion. Those absent Friday should complete the work for tomorrow.
On Tuesday, February 3: assessment on changing passive to active voice. This will consist of 10 sentences, which you will rewrite.
In class: we are beginning a unit on realism. We will explore this through poetry, a novel, a journalist's report, film and news articles.
To begin, please read the introductory material and respond to questions at the end. (class handout / copy below) Note that there are 13 words extracted and defined from the text. Please review them for an assessment this Friday, February 7.
Introduction to Realism
written by Josh Rahn
The dominant paradigm in
novel writing during the second half of the nineteenth century was no longer
the Romantic idealism of the earlier part of the century. What took hold among
the great novelists in Europe and America was a new approach to character and
subject matter, a school of thought which later came to be known as Realism. On
one level, Realism is precisely what it sounds like. It is attention to detail,
and an effort to replicate the true nature of reality in a way that novelists
had never attempted. There is the belief that the novel’s function is simply to
report what happens, without comment or judgment. Seemingly inconsequential elements gain
the attention of the novel functioning in the realist mode. From Henry James,
for example, one gets a sense of being there in the moment, as a dense fabric
of minute details and
observations is constructed. This change in style meant that some of the
traditional expectations about the novel’s form had to be pushed aside. In
contrast to what came before, the realistic novel rests upon the strengths of
its characters rather than plot or turn of phrase. They are psychologically
complicated, multifaceted,
and with conflicting impulses and motivations that very nearly replicate the
daily tribulations of being
human.
Realism coincided with Victorianism, yet was a distinct collection of aesthetic principles in its own
right. The realist novel was heavily informed by journalistic techniques, such
as objectivity and fidelity
to the facts of the matter. It is not a coincidence that many of the better
known novelists of the time had concurrent occupations in the publishing
industry. The idea of novel-writing as a “report” grew out of this marriage
between literature and journalism. Another fair comparison would be to think of
the realist novel as an early form of docudrama,
in which fictional persons and events are intended to seamlessly reproduce the
real world. The Victorian Period saw growing concern with the plight of the less fortunate in
society, and the realistic novel likewise turned its attention on subjects that
beforehand would not have warranted notice.
Advances in the field of
human psychology also fed into the preoccupation with representing the inner
workings of the mind, and the delicate play of emotions. Psychologists were
just beginning to understand that human consciousness was far more complicated
and various than had previously been considered. Debates about nature versus
nurture were as popular then as they are today. More than anything, the
understanding that in the human mind there are very few absolutes was critical for the realist sensibility. To put
it another way, Realism embraced the concept that people were neither
completely good or completely bad, but somewhere on a spectrum.
The overriding concern of all realist fiction is with character.
Specifically, novelists struggled to create intricate and layered characters who, as much as possible,
felt as though they could be flesh and blood creatures. Much of this effect was
achieved through internal monologues
and a keen understanding of human psychology. Students of the human mind were
beginning to realize that an individual is composed of a network of
motivations, interests, desires, and fears. How these forces interact and
sometimes do battle with each other plays a large part in the development of
personality. Realism, at its highest level, attempts to lay these internal
struggles bare for all to see. In other words, most of the “action” of the
realist novel is internalized. Changes in mood, in perceptions, in opinions and
ideas constitute turning points or climaxes.
1.
paradigm-(noun) a typical example or pattern of
something; a model.
2.
inconsequential-(adjective) not important or
significant.
3.
minute- (adjective)- very small
4.
tribulations-(noun)- a cause of great trouble
or suffering
5.
multifaceted- (adjective)-having many aspects
6.
aesthetic-(adjective)- concerned with beauty or
the appreciation of beauty.
7.
fidelity- (noun)- faithfulness to a person, cause, or belief,
demonstrated by continuing loyalty and support.
8.
docudrama-(noun)-a story about real-life events
9.
plight- (noun)- a dangerous, difficult, or otherwise
unfortunate situation.
10.
absolutes (noun)- a value or principle that is regarded as
universally valid or that may be viewed without relation to other things.
11.
spectrum (noun)- used to classify something, or suggest that it
can be classified, in terms of its position on a scale between two extreme or
opposite points.
12.
intricate- (adjective)- very complicated or
detailed.
13.
monologue- (noun)- a long speech by one actor in a play or movie,
or as part of a theatrical or broadcast program
Introduction
to Realism accompanying questions. Name
____________________________
Please incorporate textual evidence into
each of the following, of course, using complete sentences.
1.
What replaced “the dominant paradigm” of
Romanticism in the latter half of the 19th century?
_________________________________________________________________________________
2.
In what way is realism precisely what it sounds
like?
_________________________________________________________________________________
3.
What is the realist’s attitude towards the
novel?
_________________________________________________________________________________
4.
Upon what literary element does the Realist
novel rest?
_________________________________________________________________________________
5.
What journalistic techniques inform the Realist
novel?
_________________________________________________________________________________
6.
Why would a Realist writer use the form of a
docudrama?
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
7.
What role does psychology play in Realism?
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
.
1.
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