Literary Realism and Naturalism: Evolution and Key Features

Transition from Romanticism to Realism

• Regional Focus: Shift toward specific regional attention.
• Historical Basis: Realistic novels ground their narratives in historical facts rather than romantic manners.
• Tone Shift: Moving away from melodramatic, romantic landscapes and vehement rhetoric toward descriptive detail and narrator precision.

Key Features of Literary Realism

• Scientific Analysis: Objective examination of reality.
• Social Reform: Intention to address social problems through plausible arguments.
• New Character Archetypes: Focus on immediate social reality.
• Style: Emphasis on precision, clarity, and simplicity.

The Realist Novel

• Conflict: Portrayal of the tension between the individual and society.
• Psychological Depth: Detailed analysis of characters and their environments.
• Language: Use of natural, sober, and intelligible prose.
• Critical Intent: Authors act as social critics, often utilizing newspapers and broadcast channels.

Foundations of Naturalism

• Determinism: Focus on biological determinism and social marginalization.
• Methodology: Experimentalism, documentation, and observation.
• Philosophy: Influenced by socialism and a sense of pessimism.

The Development of Realism

Realism emerged as a bourgeois movement, finding success through articles of manners, pamphlets, and serialized novels. In Spain, this period saw a golden age of the novel. Prerrealismo focused on reproducing reality with characters conditioned by social life and moral dualism. The consolidation of Realism occurred after 1868, with the 1880s and 1890s marking the peak of Realism and Naturalism.

Benito Pérez Galdós

Galdós is the definitive figure of Spanish Realism and the greatest Spanish novelist of his century.

Key Characteristics:

• Narrative Style: Use of an omniscient narrator and ironic tone.
• Thematic Interests: Curiosity regarding nature, dreams, and romantic conflicts.
• Technique: Meticulous character development and mastery of popular language registers.

Parnassianism

• Aesthetic Cult: Focus on formal perfection and equating poetry with the fine arts.
• Rejection: Opposed to immediate reality and romantic sentimentality.

Characteristics of European Avant-Gardes

• Core Principles: Antitraditionalism, irrationalism, and experimentation.
• Philosophy: The work of art is an end in itself, independent of the external world, often characterized by elitism and simultaneous movements.