Abstract
All literature is founded on some concept of the nature of man. When any major literary trend appears, it assumes or defines man’s place in the universe. The medieval idea of man was that of a fallen creature, living in a dualistic world that was divided between good and bad, moral and immoral, God and Satan, eternal and temporal. Man has been living an accursed life since his fall from the grace. His desires and instincts corrupt his reason and lead him astray. Since literatures are products of physical, social and intellectual environment, they can best be interpreted through their setting. Taine, the French philosopher applied scientific method to the study of art and literature. His theories of race, milieu and moment challenged the traditional concepts of man, who was subjected to the rigidity of determinism. Emile Zola, regarded as proponent of French Naturalism, but it was Frank Norris who introduced it to America where it gained considerable momentum around 1890s. It appeared as a harsher variant of realism with a focus upon the scientific observation of life minus all idealism. The influence of Darwin’s Evolution Theory also was equally evident in the objective and frank portrayal of characters who were a sum of heredity and environment.
Author Information
Jyotika Elhance, University of Delhi, India
Paper Information
Conference: ACAH2023
Stream: Literature/Literary Studies
This paper is part of the ACAH2023 Conference Proceedings (View)
Full Paper
View / Download the full paper in a new tab/window
To cite this article:
Elhance J. (2023) Naturalism and Realism: An Interplay in the Works of Stephen Crane ISSN: 2186-229X – The Asian Conference on Arts & Humanities 2023 Official Conference Proceedings https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2186-229X.2023.34
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2186-229X.2023.34
Comments
Powered by WP LinkPress