Title: The Cambridge introduction to American literary realism
Description: "Between the Civil War and the First World War, realism was the most prominent form of American fiction. Realist writers of the period include some of America's greatest, such as Henry James, Edith Wharton and Mark Twain, but also many lesser-known writers whose work still speaks to us today, for instance Charles Chesnutt, Zitkala-Ša and Sarah Orne Jewett. Emphasizing realism's historical context, this introduction traces the genre's relationship with powerful, often violent, social conflicts involving race, gender, class and national origin. It also examines how the realist style was created; the necessarily ambiguous relationship between realism produced on the page and reality outside the book; and the different, often contradictory, forms 'realism' took in literary works by different authors. The most accessible yet sophisticated account of American literary realism currently available, this volume will be of great value to students, teachers and readers of the American novel"--
Subjects: History, Popular literature, Realism in literature, Literature and society, American fiction, History and criticism, National characteristics, American, in literature, American fiction, history and criticism, 19th century, American fiction, history and criticism, 20th century
Places: United States
Time periods: 20th century, 19th century