Playing the races : ethnic caricature and American literary realism Introduction: the age of caricature the age of realism William Dean Howells and the touch of exaggeration which typifies I want a real coon : Twain and ethnic caricature A Jamesian art to be cultivated Edith Whartons flamboyant copy The curious realism of Charles Chesnutt Why did so many of the writers who aligned themselves with the social and aesthetic aims of late 19th century American literary realism rely on stock conventions of ethnic caricature in their treatment of immigrant African American figures