Blogalicious

The movements of realism and naturalism began in music and art but were not limited to those areas.  It’s beginning was brought about by musicians like Umberto Giodarno, an opera writer who wrote in the realistic style.  Realism was born out of the romantic era and it’s style is self-explanitory. Rather than making things out to be more than they are, or writting falsely, realists take their work and write, paint or compose in actuality. 

In art, realism is still a very common style.  It’s battle against the Romantic style has been ongoing and is held through artists such as Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin and Gustave Courbet who painted still lifes and landscapes as acurately and detailed as possible. 

Realism then moved into literature around 1789.  It was first made big with the author Honoré de Balzac who was hailed as the grandfather of this movement within literature.  Balzac wrote with incredible attention to detail, turning a normal scene within a story into a mystical, secondary land for the reader to escape into.  His attention to detail and description became a staple for realist authors to follow. While his writting style fit nicely into the Realist movement, his plots did not.  With timeless stories of crime and conspiracies, his stories took on the role of the Romantic plots.

Gustave Flaubert wrote in a truly Realistic way.  He was not just a realist, he was an anti-Romantic.  Writting tales of adulterous women and suicide in 1857 his novel Madame Brovary became a staple for realist novelists around the world. 

Naturalism and realism are very much both alike.  Naturalism is noted as being an extension on the old form of realism, in other words, it is an updated and modern form. The founder, Emile Zola argues that it is not merely an extension.  He says that his contribution to literature is a new idea on the creation of characters and their characteristics, he also uses plot of the scientific method.  He says that his work is like observing  true human behaviors by taking a carefully made character and putting them into a carefully defined environment in order to observe the reactions.  He also puts emphasis on people in groups to illustrate the ideals of society.