When is 1865- 19 14 an American literature?

American literature from 1865 to 19 14 is called the realistic period in the history of American literature. American literature in this period is the expression of American spirit, especially American novels. Realism is a response to romanticism. Face reality, not daydreaming. Realistic literature paved the way for modernist literature. American society after the Civil War provided fertile soil for the rise and development of realism. During the 50 years from the Civil War to the First World War, great changes have taken place in American history, whether in politics, economy, culture or religion. This great change has completely changed the nature and concept of American society. First of all, the civil war had a great influence on the social values of the country. The United States has changed from an agricultural country in the Jefferson era to an industrialized and commercialized society. The wild land has been developed by civilization. This war has also brought obvious changes to the American economy. The large-scale application of new organization and management methods has promoted the modernization of industry. The first intercontinental railway was built in 1869. The widespread use of electricity and new communication means such as telephone have brought revolution to many aspects of daily life. The development of various mineral deposits contributes to the development of the national economy. The investment in industrial production has gained more than four times the return. The employment rate in the factory has doubled. The industrial output value has risen geometrically, and agricultural production has also risen rapidly. The rapid growth of economy and industry has accelerated the development of urbanization. American cities have mushroomed. By the end of World War I, half the population of the United States was concentrated in more than a dozen cities. However, these changes also have disadvantages. Industrialization and urbanization have brought endless pain to the working people. In rural areas, more and more farmers are forced to leave the land to make a living in cities, resulting in surplus labor and low wages. Capitalists do not improve the working conditions of male and female workers of all ages, resulting in polarization between the rich and the poor. The concentration of power and wealth has produced adventurers and giants. At the other end is the slum. In ideology, people are in a state of vacillation. They doubt human nature and the goodness of God. The spirit of developing the western region is gone forever. The American dream no longer exists, but what Mark Twain called the "gilded age". The literary world after the civil war is also very different from before. The bitter memory of the civil war, the disillusionment of the hero image and the ruthless reality of real life have made romanticism have no place to stand. Americans are tired of romantic ideas. The new generation writers are not satisfied with the romanticism of the older generation, and have new creative inspiration. They have a strong interest in real life, trying to explain all aspects of life, advocating objective truth and abandoning subjective prejudice, idealism and romanticism. People's interest has now turned to all aspects of daily life. They have noticed the cruelty and filth of reality and directly described the class struggle. At this time, writers have been able to describe the reflection of characters in various conditions or environments, and describe the struggle between the far west, new immigrants and the working class. These writers are welcomed by readers. This creative tendency of paying attention to real life formed American literature in the realistic period. This idea of reflecting human reality is most clearly expounded in william dean howells's book Criticism and Fiction. He said: "I admit that I first pay attention to judging a creative work with standards that reflect human reality." Before any other criteria, we must ask, "Is the work true? "It truly reflects the real life of men and women; Reflect the theme of their lives, the pulse of their lives and the principles of life? " Realistic writers dealt with the social and political problems at that time on the principle of faithfully reflecting reality. Their works are not about polite, well-dressed and well-spoken middle-class youth, but workers, farmers, ambitious businessmen, vagrants, prostitutes and ordinary soldiers. Their works reflect the realistic picture of social life of various occupations and classes after the civil war and reflect people's inner feelings. During this period, Theory of Three Represents was proposed by william dean howells, Henry James and Mark Twain. They truly describe the local customs of the United States, with strong local flavor, and tap people's inner life. They faithfully recorded life in the eastern part of the United States in the second half of the 19th century, including frontier areas, villages, towns and noisy cities that are about to disappear. There are local heroes, "American girls", middle-class families forced by life, businessmen and citizens with complicated psychology. In a word, they set an example for later realistic literature in theme, skill and style. Although these three outstanding writers write at the same time, their understanding of "truth" is different. Mark Twain and howells seem to pay attention to the description of life, while Henry James obviously emphasizes the "inner world" of people. He believes that writers should not only reflect the surface of social life, but also use language to go deep into the psychological and moral essence of human beings. He is a realistic writer who reflects the inner life of human beings. Although Mark Twain and howells both attached great importance to expressing the truth of American society, their emphases were different. Howells discussed the rising middle class and its lifestyle; On the other hand, Mark Twain likes to put his hometown and its people at the front of the story. This description form of paying attention to the native land has formed a major feature of American realistic literature. Besides local writers like Mark Twain, there are Sarah Orne Jewett, Joseph Crane and Hamlin Garland. These local writers consciously reflect their nostalgia for the disappearing lifestyle. Although they are sentimental, they describe rural life in great detail. Most of them write personal experiences, record the reality of unique environment, and explain that the specific environment of a time and place constitutes local life. Their writing materials are limited and their themes are completely different, but their artistic pursuit is the same. The influence of Darwin's theory of evolution on American thought and the influence of French literature on American writers in the19th century led to another school of American realistic literature: American naturalism. Darwin put forward the hypothesis that human beings evolved from lower animals in the Origin of Species (1859) and the Origin of Man (187 1 year). The particularity of human beings lies not in God's creation in his own image, but in his successful adaptation to the ever-changing environment and his genetic adaptation to survival. American naturalist writers accept the negative meaning of this theory and use it to explain the behavior of characters in literary works, believing that their characteristics are determined by heredity and their behavior is dominated by society and economy. American naturalist writers are consciously or unconsciously influenced by the French novelist Zola, who thinks that just as physicists and chemists study inert objects and psychologists study living things, writers study people, emotions, people and social factors. They chose the lower class as the theme, which reflected their pain and poverty. They are victims of society and nature. The most common theme of American naturalism is human animality, and it is used to explain sexual desire. For example, in MacTeague (1899), Frank Norris described the sexual relationship between a rude dentist who was compared to a horse, a dog and a bear pulling a cart and a seemingly elegant German-American girl. Theodore dreiser's Sister Carrie (1900) also has a serious naturalistic tendency in dealing with sexual relations. In art, the language of naturalistic literature is rough and the structure is clumsy. In philosophy, naturalist writers believe that real things are invisible or uncontrollable to the naked eye. Man's existence is determined by the system. Because of the lack of rationality, man is only a part of the environment, so he can't fully understand, let alone control the world he lives in, so he has no freedom of choice. In short, naturalism produces realism, but it is more ironic and pessimistic in creation. Naturalism is just another philosophical method of realism.