How real is realism?
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Régine Borderie
Abstract
The article examines the early history of the term ‘realism’ in nineteenth-century France and its unusual deployment in Gérard de Nerval’s narrative prose, where it signals the strange, dream-like character of certain experiences, in particular the oddity of common situations and feelings described by authors like Charles Dickens and Gustave Flaubert who were admired by many for their sincere, precise and comprehensive descriptions of social life. The multicolored depiction of common experiences, improvisation, and randomness that we find in Nerval’s works are also part of Flaubert’s realist practice; both give life to their narratives by emphasizing dreams, transitory impressions and fleeting sensations.
Abstract
The article examines the early history of the term ‘realism’ in nineteenth-century France and its unusual deployment in Gérard de Nerval’s narrative prose, where it signals the strange, dream-like character of certain experiences, in particular the oddity of common situations and feelings described by authors like Charles Dickens and Gustave Flaubert who were admired by many for their sincere, precise and comprehensive descriptions of social life. The multicolored depiction of common experiences, improvisation, and randomness that we find in Nerval’s works are also part of Flaubert’s realist practice; both give life to their narratives by emphasizing dreams, transitory impressions and fleeting sensations.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- List of illustrations xiii
- Editors’ preface and acknowledgments xv
- Note on translations, cross-references and documentation xvii
- Introduction 1
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Chapter 1. What is realism?
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Core essay
- What is realism? 31
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Case studies
- The contest of realism 65
- How real is realism? 81
- The emergence of the novel in India and competing modes of realism 89
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Chapter 2. Routes into realism
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Core essay
- Routes into realism 103
-
Case studies
- Routes into realism 191
- Routes into American realism 213
- Realism and translation 231
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Chapter 3. Time and space
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Core essay
- Fleeting moments and unstable spaces 247
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Case studies
- Cartographic realism in nineteenth-century literature 321
- Mobile spaces 337
- Reclaiming space, mastering time in African postcolonial fiction 357
- Utopian island realism in J. M. Synge’s travel narrative of The Aran Islands and Tomás O’Crohan’s autobiography The Islander 373
- In-between spaces in Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore 387
- Haptic realism 403
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Chapter 4. Rereading nineteenth-century realism
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Core essay
- Literary playing fields in motion 417
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Case studies
- The French debate about Gustave Courbet’s pictorial realism and the dialogue between literature and art in the mid-nineteenth century 489
- Russian families, accidental and other 503
- The benefit of reading marginal forms 515
- Madame Bovary in Italy 531
- Eça and Machado 551
- Zola, realism and naturalism in late nineteenth-century Greece 565
- The polyphony of late nineteenth-century Baltic realism 577
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Chapter 5. Post-1900 transformations of realism
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Core essay
- Straw man or profligate son? 599
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Case studies
- Realism across borders 697
- Realism in play 715
- Realism and postcolonial subjectivity in the Black British Bildungsroman 735
- The rise and fall of socialist realism 751
- Realism in Anglo-American crime fiction 761
- Biographical fiction’s challenge to realism 775
- Notes on contributors 793
- Index 801
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- List of illustrations xiii
- Editors’ preface and acknowledgments xv
- Note on translations, cross-references and documentation xvii
- Introduction 1
-
Chapter 1. What is realism?
-
Core essay
- What is realism? 31
-
Case studies
- The contest of realism 65
- How real is realism? 81
- The emergence of the novel in India and competing modes of realism 89
-
Chapter 2. Routes into realism
-
Core essay
- Routes into realism 103
-
Case studies
- Routes into realism 191
- Routes into American realism 213
- Realism and translation 231
-
Chapter 3. Time and space
-
Core essay
- Fleeting moments and unstable spaces 247
-
Case studies
- Cartographic realism in nineteenth-century literature 321
- Mobile spaces 337
- Reclaiming space, mastering time in African postcolonial fiction 357
- Utopian island realism in J. M. Synge’s travel narrative of The Aran Islands and Tomás O’Crohan’s autobiography The Islander 373
- In-between spaces in Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore 387
- Haptic realism 403
-
Chapter 4. Rereading nineteenth-century realism
-
Core essay
- Literary playing fields in motion 417
-
Case studies
- The French debate about Gustave Courbet’s pictorial realism and the dialogue between literature and art in the mid-nineteenth century 489
- Russian families, accidental and other 503
- The benefit of reading marginal forms 515
- Madame Bovary in Italy 531
- Eça and Machado 551
- Zola, realism and naturalism in late nineteenth-century Greece 565
- The polyphony of late nineteenth-century Baltic realism 577
-
Chapter 5. Post-1900 transformations of realism
-
Core essay
- Straw man or profligate son? 599
-
Case studies
- Realism across borders 697
- Realism in play 715
- Realism and postcolonial subjectivity in the Black British Bildungsroman 735
- The rise and fall of socialist realism 751
- Realism in Anglo-American crime fiction 761
- Biographical fiction’s challenge to realism 775
- Notes on contributors 793
- Index 801
