The Rise of Realism, Regionalism, and Naturalism

The period after the Civil War brought about sweeping changes to our nation and these were reflected in our literature. Our boundaries expanded as we welcomed millions of immigrants. America became an industrialized nation with world wide influence. These changes prompted our writers to produce literature focusing on the political, social, and intellectual reality of their time.

• Realism was a literary movement that produced writings focused on the individual and the hardships that were faced. Realists are concerned with the world and its effects on real, ordinary people, in real places, at this present time. They focused on life as it is, not as it was expected to be. Major realistic writers of the time were Ambrose Bierce and Stephen Crane.

• Regionalism developed as our nation expanded. The curiosity of how life was in other parts of the country prompted regionalists to create literature containing characters involved in local events, speaking localized speech, and in specific parts of the country. This movement began before the war ended and at times was labeled of a romantic quality since the writers had a tendency to idealize their characters and settings. Regionalist writers of the period were Kate Chopin and Mary E. Wilkins Freeman.

• Naturalism can be defined as realism taken to an extreme. This type of literature focused on man as subjected to his environment and the laws of science. Naturalistic writers believe man has no free will, but instead must obey their heredity, and this often exposed the uglier side of life in their writing. Jack London and Upton Sinclair are considered naturalistic writers.

• when the important events of post Civil War in North America occurred.
• when the authors of post Civil War America lived.
• when the pieces of literature you will study were written.

Become an investigator as you use the internet to find out more about these events, authors, and literary works.

The following links are provided so you can familiarize yourself with the events of the period after the Civil War. Please click on each of the links, and read about this extraordinary era in American history. You will then see a timeline game (or interactivity) that will assist you in taking the timeline quiz (located in the assessments area). You are sure to do well on the timeline quiz if you can match the dates with the according events below: