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REALISM Coming to prominence with the nineteenth-century novel, literary realism has traditionally been associated with an insistence that art cannot turn away from the harsher, more sordid aspects of human existence. However, the fluid nature of the related concepts of ‘reality’ and ‘the real’ have led to realism becoming one of the most widely debated terms to be covered in this series. Realismoffers an accessible account of literary realism as a dis- tinctive mode of writing, setting out the defining attributes of the genre and exploring the critical debates surrounding it, illustrated throughout with examples taken from a wide variety of prose fic- tion. The book covers the historical development and artistic achievements of literary realism and presents a lucid argument for its continuing status as an innovative and challenging tradition of writing, with rigorous exploration of the radical critique brought to bear on realist forms of representation during the twentieth cen- tury from the perspectives of modernism, poststructuralism and postmodernism. This comprehensive guide is essential reading for any student of literature, and will prove indispensable for those with a particular interest in the realist novel. Pam MMorris is Professor of Modern Critical Studies at Liverpool John Moores University and has written extensively on nineteenth- century literature and culture. She is the editor of The Bakhtin Reader(1994) and author of Literature and Feminism(1993) and Imagining Inclusive Society in Nineteenth-Century Novels: The Code of Sincerity in the Public Sphere(2004). THE NEW CRITICAL IDIOM SERIESEDITOR: JOHNDRAKAKIS, UNIVERSITYOFSTIRLING The New Critical Idiomis an invaluable series of introductory guides to today’s critical terminology. Each book: • provides a handy, explanatory guide to the use (and abuse) of the term • offers an original and distinctive overview by a leading literary and cultural critic • relates the term to the larger field of cultural representation With a strong emphasis on clarity, lively debate and the widest possible breadth of examples, The New Critical Idiomis an indispensable approach to key topics in literary studies. Also available in this series: Autobiography by Linda Anderson Class by Gary Day Colonialism/Postcolonialism by Ania Loomba Crime Fiction by John Scaggs Culture/Metaculture by Francis Mulhern Discourse by Sara Mills Dramatic Monologue by Glennis Byron Genders by David Glover and Cora Kaplan Gothic by Fred Botting Historicism by Paul Hamilton Humanism by Tony Davies Ideology by David Hawkes Interdisciplinarity by Joe Moran Intertextuality by Graham Allen Literature by Peter Widdowson Metre, Rhythm and Verse Form by Philip Hobsbaum Modernism by Peter Childs Myth by Laurence Coupe Narrative by Paul Cobley Parody by Simon Dentith Pastoral by Terry Gifford Romanticism by Aidan Day Science Fiction by Adam Roberts Sexuality by Joseph Bristow Stylistics by Richard Bradford The Unconscious by Antony Easthope REALISM Pam Morris First published 2003 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004. © 2003 Pam Morris All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Morris, P, 1940– Realism/Pam Morris. p. cm. – (New critical idiom) Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. 1. European literature – 19th century – History and criticism. 2. Realism in literature. I. Title. II. Series. PN761.M625 2003 809’.912’09409034–dc21 2002156322 ISBN 0-203-63407-1 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-63759-3 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0–415–22938–3 (hbk) ISBN 0–415–22939–1 (pbk) For Vicky CONTENTS SERIES EDITOR’S PREFACE X ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS XI Introduction: What Is Realism? 1 PARTI REALISMVERSUSEXPERIMENTALISM? 1 Realism and Modernism 9 The Practice of Literary Realism 9 The Modernist Critique of Realism 14 The Frankfurt School: Modernism versus Realism 17 2 Realism, Anti-realism and Postmodernism 24 From Structuralism to Poststructuralism and Postmodernism 25 The Poststructural Critique of Realism 30 Deconstructing Realism 34 PARTII LITERARYREALISM: ANINNOVATIVETRADITION 3 Literary Realism in Nineteenth-Century France 47 Idealism and Classical Theories of Art 49 Realism and French History 52 Count Frederic de Stendhal (1783–1842) 55 Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850) 59 Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880) and the ‘Réalisme’ Controversy in France 63 Emile Zola (1840–1902) 69 The Future of Literary Realism 74 viii contents 4 Literary Realism in Nineteenth-Century Britain 76 The Early Development of British Literary Realism 77 A Distinctive British Tradition of Nineteenth-Century Literary Realism 79 British Debates on Realism 87 Thomas Hardy and the Culmination of British Nineteenth-Century Realism 91 PARTIII LITERARYREALISMASFORMALART 5 Reality Effects 97 The Empirical Effect 101 The Truth Effect 109 The Character Effect 113 6 The Reader Effect 119 Stanley Fish: Interpretive Communities 120 Wolfgang Iser: the Implied Reader and Wandering Viewpoint 122 Hans Robert Jauss: Horizon of Expectation 125 PARTIV REALISMANDKNOWLEDGE: AUTOPIANPROJECT? 7 Realism and the Crisis of Knowledge 131 Logical Positivism and the Verifiability Principle 133 Relative Truths and Incommensurate Worlds 134 Michel Foucault and Knowledge as Power 136 8 Realism and other Possible Worlds 142 Realism and the Politics of Space 142 Donald Davidson and Interpretive Charity 147 Jürgen Habermas and Communicative Reason 149 contents ix GLOSSARY 163 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING 171 BIBLIOGRAPHY 174 INDEX 181
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