Realism and Naturalism

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Week 9: Realism and Naturalism
Week 9 (Oct. 14-20): Realism and Naturalism
This week’s stories explore harsh conditions of existence.
Weekly Readings
Crane, “The Open Boat”
London, “To Build a Fire,” available online at http://www.readprint.com/work-1063/To-Build-a-Fire-Jack-London/contents (http://www.readprint.com/work-1063/To-Build-a-Fire-Jack-London/contents)
My lecture on realism and naturalism

Weekly Activities
Complete the weekly readings, including my lecture.
Begin working on your second paper, due Nov. 4th.

Weekly Objectives
To understand what we mean by “realism” and “naturalism”
To examine the extent to which short stories can imaginatively re-create the natural
conditions of existence
To consider whether these stories suggest anything that gives meaning or human value to
the conditions of existence
10/14/15, 5:27 PM Week 9 Lecture: Realism and Naturalism: ENGL-225-70
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Week 9 Lecture: Realism and Naturalism

Week 9 Lecture: Realism and Naturalism
This week’s lecture is below, followed by discussion questions. After the questions, you will
find a film version of London’s “To Build a Fire.” This story is not in our anthology, but it is
available online at Link (http://www.readprint.com/work-1063/To-Build-a-Fire-Jack-London/contents)
(http://www.readprint.com/work-1063/Jack-London)

Robert Quackenbush woodcut for “The Open Boat”

Most of the stories we’ve read so far have contained elements of fantasy or at least
exaggeration, although several stories, such as Joyce’s “Araby,” seem to render everyday
life.

When narratives seemingly present things just the way they are, without any distinct artistic
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When narratives seemingly present things just the way they are, without any distinct artistic
effort to shape events or to produce a particular aesthetic effect, such stories are sometimes
called “slice of life” stories.
Whereas Romanticism (including authors such as Irving, Poe, Hawthorne, and Melville)
tended to dominate American literature in the first half of the 19th century, and Romanticism
was also important in much European literature at that time, during the latter 19th century a
literary movement known as Realism became prominent on both sides of the Atlantic.
Perhaps this new literary spirit was prompted by increased urbanization and technology, more
focus on political, economic, and social events, and, in the case of America, the Civil War. In
any event, many writers of short stories and novels tried to capture life as it was lived,
attempting at times the literary equivalent of photographic realism. Realism as a literary
movement tended to focus on societal and human relationships, often in difficult situations. A
starker literary movement, called Naturalism and influenced by the work of Charles Darwin,
considered human beings as creatures conditioned and even determined by a frequently
harsh natural environment. Whether in city or in wilderness, literary works of Realism and
Naturalism tended to focus on the struggle to make one’s way, to discover a sense of identity
and meaning, or just to survive. Again, the purported goal was to portray life as it is.
Of course such an objective quickly leads to all sorts of literary, psychological, and
philosophical complexities. Critics might wonder just what we mean by “realism” in a literary
context. A short story is, by definition, a work of fiction, with the writer consciously selecting
characters and events for his or her narrative. By that measure, even the most “transparent”
narrative is still a fictive act and created perspective. For that matter, photographic realism still
involves a photographer deciding what subject to photograph, what perspective or camera
angle to adopt, what lighting to use, and so forth. A philosopher might say that there’s perhaps
no “objective reality” anyway, just a collection of many individuals’ thoughts and perspectives,
each offering a particular version of “reality.”
Such abstruse questions quickly get beyond the purview of an introductory course. But they
remind us once again that things are not always what they seem, that complexity and
ambiguity might be found in even the most straightforward, “realistic” narrative, and that to
write a short story is to think, to choose, to shape, and to influence, all as a fictive act.
Stephen Crane and Jack London are two of the most famous authors in these literary
movements. Many of you might know Crane’s famous novel The Red Badge of Courage, so
realistic in its depiction of the horrors and emotional challenges of the Civil War that veterans
couldn’t believe that Crane hadn’t fought in that war. In fact, he was born six years after the
war’s conclusion, which shows the power of imagination to simulate realism. The Crane story
you’re reading, often considered his best short work, is indeed based on experience, however.
Crane had experienced shipwreck off Florida’s Atlantic coast in January 1897. As newspaper
accounts, including his own, revealed at the time, many of the events of “The Open Boat” are
based on actual occurrences. Some details Crane has changed with his characteristic
modesty: in reality, it was Crane (the correspondent), not the captain, who suggested using his
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modesty: in reality, it was Crane (the correspondent), not the captain, who suggested using his
coat as a sail. And in the actual ordeal, a first mate drowned, despite Crane’s attempts to
save him.
Regardless, “The Open Boat” is a powerful exploration of the naturalistic and psychological
effects of being in a dinghy not much larger than a bucking bronco while surrounded by a
constantly threatening sea. Vivid descriptions of sea and sky, careful rendering of emotion,
the sense of camaraderie in the face of possibly imminent death, and the ironic portrayal of the
men’s situation in the cosmic scheme of things–all make this story a masterpiece. Crane was
to influence later writers such as Ernest Hemingway, and it was a huge loss to American
literature that Crane died from tuberculosis when only 28.
Jack London’s story “To Build a Fire” focuses on the individual caught in a struggle for survival
against the relentless Yukon wilderness. London’s best-known novels are likewise set in the
far north: The Call of the Wild and White Fang. (He experienced the Klondike gold rush in the
latter 1890s.) Like Mark Twain, London had a gift for imagining the perspective of animals,
although London wrote about animals not for humorous purposes but to convey a sense of
instinctual, often grim nature. Like Twain and Crane, London began as a journalist; like Crane,
London died young (age 40). “To Build a Fire” is his most anthologized story, although for
some reason it wasn’t chosen for our anthology. It’s online at Link
(http://www.readprint.com/work-1063/To-Build-a-Fire-Jack-London/contents)

Discussion questions for this week:
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Discussion questions for this week:
1. How is “The Open Boat” narrated? Why do you think Crane chose to tell the story this way?
2. Your anthology’s biographical paragraph on Crane notes that his stories anticipate the
“ironic realism” of later writers. Discuss a few examples of irony in “The Open Boat.” Why do
you think Crane adopts an ironic perspective?
3. Discuss a few examples of Crane’s descriptive style. Why do you think he uses such
imagery to describe the sea?
4. Why are we occasionally given the dog’s perspective in London’s “To Build a Fire”? How
and why do the man’s and the dog’s perspectives differ?
5. Why is the snow cascading bough by bough down the tree, snuffing out the fire, symbolic of
the man’s actions in this story? Why does the story end the way it does?

Film adaptation of London’s “To Build a Fire”
Link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBB06RLmCcU&feature=related)
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBB06RLmCcU&feature=related)