Title: Facing facts : realism in American thought and culture, 1850- 1920 /
Authors: Shi, David Emory.
Publisher: Oxford University Press,
Year: 1995
Subjects: Realism.; United States Intellectual life; United States Intellectual life; United States Civilization; United States Civilization
Abstract: In Facing Facts, David Shi provides the most comprehensive history to date of the rise of realism in American culture. He vividly captures the character and sweep of this all-encompassing movement - ranging from Winslow Homer to the rise of the Ash Can school, from Whitman to Henry James to Theodore Dreiser. He begins with a look at the antebellum years, when idealistic themes were considered the only fit subject for art (Hawthorne wrote that "the grosser life is a dream, and the spiritual life is a reality"). Whitman's assault on these otherworldly standards coincided with sweeping changes in American society: the bloody Civil War, the aggressive advance of a modern scientific spirit, the emergence of photography and penny newspapers, the expansion of cities, capitalism, and the middle class - all worked to shake the foundations of genteel idealism and sentimental romanticism.
Contents: pt. I. Setting the Stage. 1. Antebellum Idealism. 2. New Paths -- pt. II. The Generative Forces. 3. Touched with Fire. 4. A Mania for Facts. 5. Goods and Surfaces -- pt. III. Realism Triumphant. 6. Truth in Fiction. 7. Realism on Canvas. 8. Form Follows Function -- pt. IV. Extraordinary Realities. 9. Realism and the Social Question. 10. Savage Realism. 11. A World Full of Fists. 12. Ash Can Realism -- pt. V. An Epoch of Confusion. 13. The Modernist Revolt.