The Literature of Realism Essay Example for Free

The Literature of Realism Essay I. Background †¢ 1. three fundamental issues: 1) conflict between the agrarianism and the industrialism 2) the conflict between the South and the North 3) the conflict between the East and the West †¢ 2. reaction against â€Å"the lie† of romanticism and sentimentalism †¢ 3. battle between â€Å"idealists† and â€Å"realists† †¢ 4. more attention to the immediate facts of life 5. the year 1865 an important shift from Romanticism to Realism a most significant event the holocaust or destruction of the Civil War ? a notable impact on American literature and art ? a profound emotional and philosophical impact on thinkers and writers ? some changes 1) putting to rest the romantic concept of war Romantics: a glorious, grand and noble encounter, something heroic Realists: a way of destroying romantic outlook on life a negative review of war — its destruction 2) changing the romantic concept of man Romantics: man as â€Å"the noblest work of God† Realists: man as a product of the environment, of his heredity, of fate or chance. 3) stimulating industrialization A. an explosive growth of business and industry a period of amazing engineering achievements, a period of frantic building and expansion B.  the emergence of an urban civilization a period of great plunder and exploitation, of greedy materialism and political corruption C. the miserable social ills the voices of criticism and voices of anger. 4) becoming the â€Å"melting-pot† society the influx of millions of immigrants — more freedom or a better living, or both — a land of opportunity 5) changing the concept of reality Romantics: the romantic concept of reality, the spiritual reality Realists: the visibly concrete world, the physical reality II. Major Features of American Realism †¢ 1. truthful treatment of material 1) examining characters in depth A. the individual — highly B. the function of environment — shaping character C. characterization — the center of the story D. the effect of action on characters E. the psychology of the people in the story 2) open ending †¢ 2. commonness of the lives of the common people 3. objectivity; an objective view of human nature and human experience †¢ 4. moral visions 1) the problems of the individual conscience in conflict with social institutions †¢ 2) focusing on the dilemma III. Local Color Fiction 1. Background 1) the shift of the publishing center: A. a new freedom B. a greater openness. 2) the growth of communication and transportation 3) the rapid growth of local magazines †¢ 2. Local-color Realism or Regionalism 1) a quality in literature fidelity to a particular geographical section and a faithful representation of its habits, speech, manners, history, folklore, or beliefs 2) a subordinate order of realism unique in his or her living section 3) more popular after the Civil War 4) a new freedom 5) much more interested in learning about life in other parts of the country 6) the desire to preserve distinctive ways of life and to come to terms with the harsh realities †¢ 3. Representatives women: Mary E. Wilking Freeman, Sarah Orne Jewett and Harriet Beecher Stowe: New England Kate Chopin: Louisiana men: Bret Harte: the Far West O. Henry: New York City Mark Twain: the Mississippi River †¢ 4. Local Color Fiction 1) a form of regionalism: local colorism A. people’s realization B. asserting their unique identity and seeking understanding and recognition C. the frontier humorists’ preparation D. the appearance of a lot of magazines 2) a quality of circumstantial authenticity A. not only an authentic surface but also the depths B. strong sketches of an environment C.simplicity: characteristic of vernacular language and satirical humor †¢ 5. Basic Features 1) a locale distinguished from the outside world the local character of their particular region 2) the exotic and the picturesque A. not common in other regions B. an attempt at accurate dialect reporting C. a tendency toward the use of eccentrics as characters D. the use of sentimentalized pathos or whimsical humor in plotting 3) the past A. not merely as nostalgia but also as realism in the social criticism B. the world of agrarian life a. the farms b. the people who were soon going to leave the farms c. the small towns d. a life that was vanishing 4) a great contradiction A. how things are right now B. how great the past had been 5) the influence of setting on character the diversity of America IV. Naturalism †¢ 1. Background 1) Charles Darwin’s ideas A. the struggle for existence B. survival of the fittest C. natural selection 2) Herbert Spencer’s theory of social Darwinism the weak and stupid would fall victim in the natural course of events to economic forces 3) the way of the development of the society 4) Darwin’s natural selection: a way to explain human behavior †¢ 2. Emergence 1) Emile Zola: the purpose of a novelist A. to be a scientist B. to place his characters in a situation C. to watch the influences of heredity and environment destroy them, or, to watch them overcome the inimical force of heredity and environment 2) some American writers A. human beings: no longer free and strong B. human life: governed by the two crushing forces of heredity and environment C. Howellsian realism: too restrained and genteel in tone †¢ 3. Major Features 1) the application of the principles of scientific determinism 2) three major concepts of literary naturalism A. humans: controlled by laws of heredity and environment naturalist fiction: no evidence of effective choice, or free will, or autonomous action B. life: a struggle for survival the naturalist’s concerns: a. social systems that destroy and dehumanize b. individual experience of loss and failure C. a major difference between the literary naturalists and the realists a. the violent, sensational, sordid, unpleasant, and ugly aspects of life b. all the aspects of life that are not too pleasant to consider 3) naturalist characters: A. being unable to resist the conditions that press upon them B. more or less combinations of innate traits and socialized habits †¢ 4. American Naturalistic Writers 1) not as pessimistic about life as the French 2) an optimistic feeling 3) a great regard for rugged individualism 4) similarities in theme and technique A. the forbidden subjects B. in a daring, open, and direct manner C. original and experimental in their respective styles 5) two examples of American literary naturalism: Stephen Crane and Theodore Dreiser A. an optimistic strain B. the influence of pessimistic determinism †¢ 5. Comparison With Realists and Romantics. 1) naturalists: reduce to nil the human chances of winning on their own terms realists: stress freedom of choice with large provisos concerning the power of outside forces romantics: stress the possible triumph of the human will 2) naturalists: see human beings no more than a physical object under the control of biological and environmental forces realists: see human beings just human beings romantics: see human beings almost as a god †¢ 6. Decline of Naturalism 1) the growth of psychological science and of psychoanalysis 2) the tendency to turn into the mythic through sheer immersion in the typical 3) disappearing with World War I 4) reviving during the period of the Great Depression in the 1930s The Literature of Realism (2) Some Leading Writers †¢ 1. Mark Twain (1835-1910) 1) Life A. born in Florida, Missouri B. a journey man printer at the age of 18 C. a pilot on the Mississippi River â€Å"Mark Twain†: â€Å"safe water† or â€Å"two fathoms deep† D. in 1865, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County 2) Literary Achievements A. The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County (1867) a collection of short stories B. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876)  · C. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884)  · 3) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1) the idea of lost boyhood (2) the first person narration (3) Mark Twain’s greatest achievement A. the world’s view of America; a profound impact onthe development of American writing B. his influences on American writers of the 20th century a. his presentation of native American material b. his art of the vernacular idiom c. his departure from the tradition of the 19th century gentility d. his sense of alienation (4) Satire A. Twain’s satire on southern culture before the Civil War a. two different subjects: ? the experience of westward expansion ? the experience of southern slavery b. attitudes toward the South and the West ? much less pleasant ? the problem of slavery the problem of mistreatment of humans by humans c. condemning racial discrimination d. making fun of typical American values e. a brooding pessimism about American values and life itself B. Twain’s satire on the poor whites their ludicrous idea: they were white and they were better than black slaves C. Twain’s satire on the genteel upper-class southerners a. a very aristocratic life b. being violent accepting their violence as right (5) Style A. vernacular language: unpretentious, colloquial, and poetic style; the directness of the language B. local color: descriptions of local places and people; playing tricks on the reader; C. cracker-barrel philosopher: the moral stance of a cracker-barrel philosopher (someone who understand folk wisdom, has a pretty good common sense of view of life, and is pretty realistic about social problems) (6) Significance A. the major achievements of his art: a. the carefully controlled point of view, with its implicit ironies expressed through the voice of a semiliterate boy b. the masterful use of dialects c. the felicitous balancing of nostalgic romanticism and realism, humor and pathos, innocence and evil B. his ability a. to capture the enduring, archetypal, mythic images of America b. to create the most memorable characters in all of American fiction 2. O. Henry (1862-1910): one of the most prolific modern American short story writers 1) LifeA. born at Greensboro, North Carolina B. named William Sidney Porter C. using the penname â€Å"O. Henry† in his creative writing D. died at 48 2) Literary Achievements A. a great master of the art of fiction B. popular mainly for his short stories a. typically American b. self-sacrificing member of a family c. the surprise ending C. illustration of his styleoriginal conception, exaggeration, simile and metaphor, humor, and surprise ending D. the list of his short stories: about 300 titles Cabbages and Kings The Gift of the Magi The Cop and the Anthem A Municipal Report †¢ 3. Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945) 1) Life A. born from a large, poor, religious, immigrant family at Terre Haute, Indiana B. bitter poverty, lacking education, skill and status C. against the poverty and narrowness of life D. direct personal experience and independent reading and thinking E. Spencer’s social Darwinism F. various jobs G. writing short stories. H. one of the first American writers to come from the lower level of society 2) Literary Career A. in September of 1899, Sister Carrie a. a landmark novel b. virtually ignored for more than a decade: the heroine transgresses the sexual code — a breach of proper moral conduct c. republliation in 1907: very popular, one of the key works in the Dreiser canon d. a female character, the new woman — more freedom in society, more independence, more ability to run her own life without being tied to a family, or without being tied to a husband — the beginning of women’s liberation movement e. Carrie: no control, no freedom of will, a slave to her heredity and to her environment B. Dreiser’s second novel Jennie Gerhardt (1911) C. â€Å"The Trilogy of Desire†: The Financier (1912) The Titan (1914) / The Stoic (1947) and an aptly autobiographical novel: The Genius (1915) a. financially successful people are of high sexual energy b. the chaotic nature of life prevents spiritual satisfaction c. normal and right for one to get the most from a society’s economic system D. Plays of the Natural and Supernatural (1916) The Hand of the Potter (1918) : a tragedy E.  An American Tragedy (1925): his masterpiece F. political activism and polemical writing a. Dreiser Looks at Russia (1928) b. â€Å"Tragic America† (1931) â€Å" † America Is Worth Saving (1941) G. attending International Peace Conference H. awarded the Merit Medal for Fiction I. joining the American Communist Part J. The Bulwark (1946) 3) Major Features A. stressing determinism: a. unable to assert their will against natural and economic forces b. pathetic in their inability to escape their fates c. subject to the control of the natural forces of heredity and environment B. society’s effect on a person  a. truthfully reflecting the society and people of his time b. treating human beings scientifically c. finding the explanation that man is the product of social evolution. C. narrative method: natural and free from artifice a. his tone: serious, never satirical or comic b. powerful narrative based on large quantities of material and detailed descriptions c. his powerful frankness widens the social and sexual range possible for literature in America d. striking at the American myth that success and famewere to be achieved by work and virtue e. dramatizing chance as a means of compelling characters to pay or gain for actions f.  characteristic of journalistic method of reiteration, word-pictures, sharp contrast, truth in color, and movement in outline g. its stubborn honesty and realism D. â€Å"the wheelhouse of American naturalism†, â€Å"chief spokesman for the realistic novel† and â€Å"a profound and prescient critic of debased American values†. a. American naturalism came of age b. recording the course and the vulgar and the cruel and the terrible William Dean Howells founder of American Realism; the most prominent critic of the entire realistic period Henry James a most prominent critic; an early psychological novelist one of the fathers of the psychological novel.

Tennenbaum and Schmidt Reading Note Essay -- Business and Management S

Tennenbaum and Schmidt Reading Note Background knowledge †¢ In 1938, Lewin and Lippitt proposed classifications of leaders based on how much involvement leaders placed into task and relationship needs. This range of leadership behaviors was expressed along a continuum by Tannenbaum & Schmidt in 1973, ranging from boss-centered (task) to subordinate-centered (relationship). †¢ It is a simple model which shows the relationship between the level of freedom that a manager chooses to give to a team and the level of authority used by the manager. As you can see in the graph, the model allows more control to the managers in the begininning making the leadership style more autocratic, thus the subordinates have less or nothing to contribute in the discussion process. As u move towards the end, the subordinates gain more control, and in the end the leadership style is more â€Å"laissez faire† leadership, so the subordinates have much more control over their task. This also follows maslow’s heirarchy of motivation, as the subordinates gain responsibility, they work harder for the business. How does it make a good leadership model? †¢ As the team’s freedom is increased, so the manager’s authority decreases. This is a positive way for both the team and the manager to improve. †¢ When the manager needs less time to spend on the team, he will have more time to spend on other areas such as calculating budget, forecasting, calculate prof...

Strategic Fit of It Service Management

IBM Academy of Technology Academy TechNotes ATN Volume 2, Number 9, 2011 Strategic fit of IT Service Management iven the crucial role that IT (Information Technology) plays in businesses today, IT departments have a significant responsibility to ensure that its value is optimized. IT optimization can be obtained through the adoption of the IT Service Management proposition by IT operations. G Pietro Della Peruta However, IT Service Management concepts and tools are complex changes to introduce to an organization. To achieve the right fit of such concepts and tools it is important that the introduction is congruent with the company’s operating mode. The Company Operating Mode concept was introduced in the seminal work of Nolan and McFarlan on the â€Å"IT Strategic Impact Grid† (Harvard Business Review, October 2005, Information Technology and the Board of DirecTurnaround mode is characStrategic Dependence: Current value of IT on tors). According to the IT terized by the business havbusiness Strategic Impact Grid, ing a low strategic dependHigh companies operate in Low ence on IT which has high four possible modes: strategic impact. Firms in Turnaround Strategic High support, turnaround, facturnaround mode expect a IT Governance Focus IT Governance tory, and strategic. These new system to change their on system s and Governance modes determine the on business business. New systems promapplications Strategic Im pact: services Scope of IT current value IT has for ise major process optimizaFuture value of IT on operations the business (i. e. strategic business tion and service transformaSupport Factory Managem ent dependency) and the tion as well as cost reducBusiness Applications Focus future value IT has for the tion. IT operations are charservice and system m anagem ent m anagem ent business (i. e. strategic acterized by a great attenLow impact). To optimize the tion to efficiency, and they Legenda IT Managem ent Mode value of IT, for each are mostly process driven. Business Focus System Focus Com pany Operating Mode Company Operating Mode, The IT operations focus is on Focus of IT a well-defined level of IT the systems with attention to operations service management (IT IT governance processes (i. e. service management mode) needs to be implemented ITIL). y the IT operation. The IT service management mode is Strategic mode is characterized by IT having high stratecharacterized by the focus of IT operation (i. e. system gic dependence and high strategic impact on the busifocus or business focus) and by the scope of IT operations ness. Firms in this mode require dependable systems and (i. e. management focus or governance focus). When a must exploit emerging technologies to hold their comcompanyâ €™s currently adopted IT management mode petitive position. IT operations are seeking effectiveness does not match the operating mode the company is in, and efficiency. IT operations focus is on managing busithe IT department must modify the way IT services are ness service from a business point of view (effectiveness) managed in order to optimize the value of IT. as well as using a process driven approach to manage Support Mode is characterized by IT having low strategic the IT (efficiency). This means IT governance and business impact on the business which has a low strategic deservice focus. endency on IT. Companies in support mode are least dependent on IT. In this mode systems operate mostly in About the Author: Pietro della Peruta is an Executive IT Archimaintenance mode. Service interruption might not protect, IBM Software Group, a member of the IBM Academy of duce serious consequences. For a company in support Technology, and has 20 years of experience in systems mode, systems and applications are monitored and some availability and p erformance management. est practices exist for recovery from performance and availability problems. IT operations are focused on systems and applications resources, and the scope of operations is management.  © Copyright IBM Corporation 2011 Factory mode is characterized by the business having high strategic dependence on IT which has low strategic impact. Companies in factory mode are more dependent on information technology. If systems fail for a minute or more, there is an immediate loss of business. Increased response time has erious consequences for both internal and external users. IT management in the factory mode is characterized by a high level of effectiveness via tailored control of business service quality. KPIs (key performance indicators) are defined at business level more than at IT level. IT operations have a business focus but still a management scope. In factory mode, the focus of IT operations is more on managing the business services than on the systems or the applications as single entities. For more information please visit the Academy web site.

Essay on Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literatures

Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literatures Introduction More than three-quarters of the people living in the world today have had their lives shaped by the experience of colonialism. It is easy to see how important this has been in the political and economic spheres, but its general influence on the perceptual frameworks of contemporary peoples is often less evident. Literature offers one of the most important ways in which these new perceptions are expressed and it is in their writing, and through other arts such as painting, sculpture, music, and dance that the day-to-day realities experienced by colonized peoples have been most powerfully encoded and so profoundly influential. What are post-colonial†¦show more content†¦This is because there is a continuity of preoccupations throughout the historical process initiated by European imperial aggression. We also suggest that it is most appropriate as the term for the new cross-cultural criticism which has emerged in recent years and for the discourse through which this is constituted. In this sense this book is concerned with the world as it exists during and after the period of European imperial domination and the effects of this on contemporary literatures. So the literatures of African countries, Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Caribbean countries, India, Malaysia, Malta, New Zealand, Pakistan, Singapore, South Pacific Island countries, and Sri Lanka are all post-colonial literatures. The literature or the USA should also be placed in this category. Perhaps because of its current position of power, and the neo-colonizing role it has played, its post-colonial nature has not been generally recognized. But its relationship with the metropolitan centre as it evolved over the last two centuries has been paradigmatic for post-colonial literatures everywhere. What each of these literatures has in common beyond their special and distinctive regional characteristics is that they emerged in their present form out of the experience of colonization and asserted themselves by foregrounding the tension with the imperial power, and by emphasizing their differences from the assumptions of the imperial centre. It is thisShow MoreRelatedEssay on Colo nial Oppression of Women1123 Words   |  5 PagesColonial and Postcolonial debates along with the issues of Feminism have always been challenging discourses. The present day world with the constant cultural encounters and clashes as well as the ideas regarding pluralism and multiculturalism motivates a curiosity on the part of the onlooker to search the answer to the question who is who in todays world when there is a continuous struggle between different countries not only politically and militarily but also culturally. In this situation theRead MoreThe Postcolonial Of Amitav Ghosh s Novels Let Us Begin3362 Words   |  14 Pagespostcolonial readings of Amitav Ghosh’s novels let us begin by understanding what postcolonial literature is. In this chapter, I will try to understand what the postcolonial literature does by theorizing the entire process of imperialization or colonization. In the following chapters I will try to understand the postcolonial perspective in Amitav Ghosh’s fictional works. As Peter Barry observes in his Beginning Theory, postcolonial criticism emerged as a distinct category only in the 1990s. It has gainedRead MoreColonial and Post-Colonial Mentalities in the Middle Passage1095 Words   |  5 Pagespreceded it, spawned many of the most enlightening theories about African people. These theories, usually in support of African savagery and inferiority and in favor of European superiority and civility were based in the colonial mentalities of that time. Of the most notable theories is the idea that African religious system was pagan and that African people were inferior because of their darker skin pigmentation and â€Å"beast-like† nature. These theories dispersed rapidly across the globe, and even todayRead MoreRelationship between Postmodernism and Post colonialism1048 Words   |  5 Pagespostcolonialism. Postmodern theory been applauded as liberating, even democratising, in its rejection of absolutism and in its refusal to accept the dictates of hierarchy and certainty. It calls for the abandonment of the modernist qualities of objective truth, centralized knowledge, totalising explanations and determinacy . Rather, postmodern theory advocates for the relatively of truth, indeterminacy and pluralism. Yet, these often celebrated traits of postmodern theory have deep and profound consequencesRead MoreColonialism And Its Effects On The Colonization Of Foreign Lands And Decimating The Existence Of The Host Culture1113 Words   |  5 Pagesfor this literature review is how were European settlers successful in colonizing indigenous lands? This question is instructive as to which methods western colonizers utilized were most effective in invading foreign lands and decimating the existence of the host culture. Responses to this question allow for the analysis of imperialist systems as well as their enduring effects, in order to indicate and dismantle the presence of these oppressive practices in todayÊ »s society. The literature that examinesRead MorePost Colonialism Is Not A Reference Of Time Essay1237 Words   |  5 PagesPost colonialism is not a reference of time; rather it is the literary theory that encompasses the global interactions of humans after colonization and imperialist rule dominated the world. The ultimate definition is still in the wakes of developing, so there is no box this particular word can smoothly fit into. This is a literary theory; it is a lens to take in order to understand the truthfulness of all perspectives in a story. A baseline of post colonialism lies in the definition of both termsRead MoreOf mimicry and man1676 Words   |  7 PagesMimicry and Man: The ambivalence of Colonial discourse’ Homi Bhabha explains the weaknesses of colonial discourse by suggesting that the techniques which ‘broadcast the dominance and impenetrability’ (Kumar-Das 1992:362) of the subject causes its weaknesses to arise. Bhabha makes a psychoanalytic analysis based on the work of Jacques Lacan and Frantz Fanon, among several authors. His definition of colonial mimicry takes the form of discussing the issues within colonial discourse whilst reflecting onRead More Bhabhas Contribution to Postcolonial Theory Essay2599 Words   |  11 Pagesis one of these writer who is born and brought up in Nigeria, a colony of British Empire until 1960, postcolonial approach is one of the most appropriate critical methods to deal with her narratives. Besides, since she is focusing on women in the colonial and postcolonial setting trying to foreground their subjugation, utilizing ideas proposed by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak and Chandra Talpade Mohanty as pioneers of postcolonial feminism are helpf ul in coming to the desired conclusion in this thesisRead MoreAnalysis Of S Americanah Through A Post Colonial Prism4297 Words   |  18 PagesAMERICANAH THROUGH A POST-COLONIAL PRISM 1. Introduction Respected Marxist critic Frederic Jameson once described every instance of â€Å"third world literature† as necessarily nationally allegorical (69), an assertion spectacularly assailed by Aijaz Ahmad (77-82). But it is possible to close our eyes to Ahmad’s very valid misgivings and take a bird’s eye view of Jameson’s assertion: read in reaction to the phenomenon of imperialism, perhaps the literature of dominated peoples is the literature of self-assertionRead MoreBuchi Emecheta and African Traditional Society Essay1918 Words   |  8 Pagesconstructing a world in which women can live complete lives; a world that may provide women with opportunities for freedom, creativity, self-expression, friendship and love. Welesley Brown Lloyd believes that; â€Å"of all women writers in contemporary African literature Buchi Emecheta of Nigeria has been the most sustained and vigorous voice of direct feminist protest† (35) Buchi Emecheta’s major concern is providing a picture of the African women which is nothing to smile about. Providing the readers with the