History 47

"Realism" in Literature, Photography, Architecture)

(William Dean Howells, Jacob Riis, Louis Sullivan )

 
For class 1/28/97 revised and expanded 1/25/98
 
*"realism in literature, arts, photography. (see handout Genteel/ Realism) and careers of Howells, Jacob Riis, Louis Sullivan. Along with Ash Can school in painting marked assault on Genteel Tradition. Eventually popularized during progressive era (e.g. in muckraking).
 
Note on definition: as with most labels, whether of periods, or "movements" within literature and the arts (e.g. "Veritism," "Naturalism"), the term has both a general and programmatic aspect. Thus one can trace a "realistic" spirit within American literature and life from the 1850s onward (see David Shi, Facing Facts, chs 1-2.). But by the 1880s the term was embraced by William Dean Howells and others to designate a literary program, which was in turn deepened and challenged by the "Veritism" of Hamlin Garland, and the "Naturalism" of Dreiser, London et. al. after 1890. These labels, in turn, are then typically adopted by historians of literature and culture. With reference to specific figures one can thus trace roots of "realism" in the novels of the ante-bellum writer James F. Cooper. E.g. as well as the poetry of Whitman. But neither are usually considered "Realists" in the sense of Howells or the early Henry James.
 
A further complication is that slightly different labels are adopted in different areas (literature-painting, architecture, philosophy etc.). Thus, the architecture of Louis Sullivan, the case study method at Harvard law of Langdell, and the pragmatism of Pierce (all products of the 1870s-1880s) the spirit of "realism" but are described as "functionalist" (Sullivan), simply "case study" (Langdell) or "antiformalist (pragmatism).
 
Keeping in mind that the label is thus to some degree arbitrary, the following may be taken as examples of "Realism" in literature and the arts for purposes of this course (see handout #2 Genteel/Realism, and Shi, Facing Facts).
 
Literature: local color and regional writers etc. (Bret Harte, Edward Eggleston, Mary Wilkins Freeman through Mark Twain who raises to a new level); Howells, early Henry James
 
Painting: Winslow Homer, Thomas Eakins
 
Photography: Jacob Riis
 
Architecture: Louis Sullivan
 
 


 
A. Interpreting "realism"
 
1. historical emergence. Relation to "classicism" and "romanticism". See Jacques Barzun, Classic, Romantic.
 
2. historiography.
 
*Thinking about "realism" has developed from(a) acceptance of claims of Howells et al at face value; to (b) rejection or down grading in 1950s, as "romance" seen as characteristic (and superior) product of American social fabric and/or psychological explantions in terms of social crisis ; and to emphasis on "social construction" of realism to serve interests, emerging professionals and middle class more generally, and the new capitalist order.
 
** whereas the "Realists" saw themselves doing battle with defenders of "Ideality" (that is "Genteel Tradtion") , and providing a basis for the "democratic" reforms of the Progressive Era, recent reinterpretations conflate GT and Realism as part of refashioning of late Victorian culture to serve the needs of the new order.
 
a. "Whig" (or Progressive) view. Can be seen in V. Parrington, Main Currents in American Thought, vol. III. Sees as "democratic" emancipatory," and rooted in new "science" Key concept is "critical realism." Saw realism as product of number of changes, both "internal" (intellectual) and external . Generally viewed it as "natural" development whereby in positivist scenario, culture shed the religious/metaphysical baggage of past eras, moving to more scientific, functional view of things (that is, did not see as "socially constructed").
 
(i) internal: Positivism, Darwinism
 
(ii) external:
 
 
 b. 1950s and 1960s two versions of what could be considered variant of "consensus" history, both faulting and downgrading realism. Summary of Amy Kaplan, The Social Construction of American Realism (University of Chicago, 1988).,
 
(i) "Romance thesis". Key texts are Richard Chase, The American Novel (1957) and R.W.B. Lewis, The American Adam (1955) although goes back to D.H. Lawrence, Studies in Classic American Literature (1923)
 
Thesis of Chase summarized by Kaplan p. 2: "In the richly textured social world of the European novel. . . characters develop in relation to entrenched institutions and the struggle between classes. The isolated her of the American romance, in contrast, embarks on a melodramatic quest through a symbolic universe, unformed by networks of social relations and unfettered by the pressure of social constraints." Specifically excluded realist novels from the canon.
 
* marked convergence of two traditions in criticism (Kaplan, p. 3)
 
(a) New Critics regard for lyric as highest form of literary expression
 
(b) antiliberal polemics and disillusionment with possibility of a genuinely adversarial politics, esp. as represented by Lionel Trilling. See e.g. his essay "Reality in America" in the American Literary Tradition.
 
* Social reality mars literary form (" disinheritance," "divided stream"). Examples are Charles Walcutt, American Literary Naturalism (1956); Werner Berthoff, Ferment of Realism (1965) , Donald Pizer, Realism and Naturalism (1966).
.
(a) criticism combined criticism of their "mimetic accuracy" and New Critics concern with literary form. That is, did not accurately portray reality or write "good" novels. This ways of talking, according to Kaplan, "implicitly situates literature outside the arena of social history, looking down and commenting on it. (p. 5)
 
(ii) Social psychological approach to realism analyze Roger Salomon, "Realism as Disinheritance," American Quarterly (winter 1964), 531-. [do Walcutt later in relation to naturalism]
 
 
c. Post-modernist Reassessment of realism in 1970s and 1980s against its downgrading in what is now called the "romance thesis" of the 1950s (actually a literary critical attenuation of "modernism"). For a good brief summary of these traditions see "Introduction" to Amy Kaplan, The Social Construction of American Realism (University of Chicago, 1988). (influenced by post structuralism and new historicism) who refuse to place text outside society (or in lit-folk new-speak: "realism fails because of a linguistic absence which makes referentiality impossible" [Kaplan, p. 1]
 
(i) in literary criticism is represented in Eric Sundquist, ed.American Realism: New Essays (1982), although he continues to see realism as failure, for much same reasons as 1960s critics did. More radical departures in work of Walter B. Michels (do next time. Also in R. Jackson Lears, No Place of Grace and especially Alan Trachtenberg, Incorporation of America. More generally the concept of "social construction" is derived from Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann, The Social Construction of Reality (N.Y. Doubleday 1966).
 
*discuss below with reference to Howells "Pernicious Fiction" in H&C American Intellectual Tradtion
 
(ii) general themes: Kaplan p. 7: "Realists do more than passively record the world outside; they actively create and criticize the meanings, representations, and ideologies within their own changing culture."Specifically interested in relation to:
 
(a) consumer culture and "commodification" See Kaplan, p. 7. second paragraph.
 
(b) implications for social class and political force of realism. Specifically how does "reality" come to seem natural, "the way things are.?
 
(c) and what are implications for writers role in society, and in shaping social change. . EG Lears.No Place of Grace, especially the sense of "unreality" that was at the heart of middle class life. See Kaplan p. 9 for brief statement. Discuss Lears, ch 1. Trachtenberg,Incorporation, "Ch. 6 "Fictions of the Real" and discussion of Howells "Pernicious Fiction"
 
 
I. . William Dean Howells
 
A. . Essay "Pernicious Fiction" as seen from these various perspectives
 
1. What is origin of article? Any contemporary examples (TV violence?)
 
2. What are the things that make certain fiction "pernicious"?
 
3. What particular types of literature does he have in mind?
 
4. Any gender dimensions?
 
5. What does he want? Is Howells proposing a more "democratic" "equalitarian" literature? is this his main complain against "novels."
 
 
B. . Rise of Silas Lapham (discussed briefly)
 
1. How can be read as triumph of " morality" and "democracy" in age of new industrialism
 
2. Or of half-hearted commitment and "pragmatic acquiescence" (L. Mumford)
 
3. But more importantly, an essay in how to "see" correctly.

 
II. . Jacob Riis (1849-1914)
 
* born In Denmark, emigrated to U.S. in 1870. In 1877 took up journalistic career that became lifework. First assigned to police stories by NY Tribune. After 1887 explored ways of using photography to dramatize situations he found. Started giving slide presentations. Left 412 glass plate slides but only 250 by him, thus relatively brief career. In The Making of an American (1901) disparaged his photo abilities.
 
A. Brief review of representative slides give some support to traditional view of Riis as crusading reformer who "exposed" poverty of the "other half," thus inspiring the social reforms of the progressive era.
 
Slides
 
Riis
 
1. A-d Riis, from How the Other Half Lives (1890) [4 slides]
 
 
*what is your initial reaction? What is Riis's aim? how were the photos taken? what does this say about the context of his "realism"?
*closer look at others, however, shows more complex agenda.
 
2.a. Lawrence, Richard Hoe, "Bandit's Roost" [1887]
b. Riis, Jacob "Bandit's Roost" [1887]
 
* what do you see as the difference between the two? why do you think Riis cropped the Lawrence version? (see Trachtenberg; also Maren Stange, Symbols of Ideal Life (pp. 8-9).In what way is "Gotham" similar? what does this say about his intent?
 
3. a. Riis/ Lawrence "Robbing a Lush" (two versions)
b. Anon., "The New York 'Divers',",from National Police Gazette, 1846
 
*what is the significance of the similarity between the 1847 Police Gazette representation and Riis's photo?
 
4. a. Riis, "Washing Up" (1880s)
b. Anon."The Newsboys Lodging House," Harper's Weekly 1867.
 
*ditto for these two?
 
5.a.Riis, "Street Arabs," [1880s]
b. F. Beard, "The Fortunes of a Street Waif,
 
*ditto for these two?
 
**all three show how he using images already familiar in urban culture (Stange, p. 2.) Thus pictures never unmediated, but geared to the larger text which was "Gotham's crime and misery." (Strange p. 13) . Riis to interviewer in 1888: "The beauty of looking into these places without actually being present there is that the excursionist is spared the vulgar sounds and odious scents and repulsive exhibitions attendant upon such a personal examination." (Stange. p. 16)
 
(c) In light of the above look at original four Riis photos ? how does he define "reality" would you consider him a "reformer" if not, what do you see as his purpose. In what ways and for what reasons can we describe his realism as "socially contructed"?
 
*Stange, Symbols summary:
 
1. "It is not at all clear that Riis intended to distinguish 'his' photographs from other visual discourses, including the photographic surveillance and social control practiced [by the police]..."
2. Moreover, in attempt to create audience for his shows "he insisted on linking his appreciation of the medium and of his subject to current notions of refinement and aestheticism" (p. 25)

 
III. Louis Sullivan
 
Slides
 
Sullivan and Architecture
 
1. Memorial Hall, Cambridge (1860s) WARE AND VAN BRUNT
2. City Hall, Philadelphia (1874) John McArthur
3. National Bank of Republic (1884) [Furness]
4. Kensington Bank FURNESS 1877
5. Marshall Field Warehouse, Chicago (1885-87) RICHARDSON
6. Monadnock Building, Chicago (1891) DANIEL BURNHAM
7. Home Ins. Company (1884) W. L. B. JENNEY
8. 2nd Leiter Building (1889-90) JENNEY (2 views)
9. Reliance Building, Chicago (1886) BURNHAM AND ROOT*
10. Auditorium, Chicago (1887-89)(exterior) SULLIVAN
11. Wainwright Building, St. Louis (1891) SULLIVAN
12. Guaranty Trust, Buffalo (1894-96) SULLIVAN [2 slides]
13. Carson, Pirie, Scott Dept Store , Chicago (1899-1903) SULLIVAN
14. '' , 2 views of bottom and top portion (also *
15. Lever House, New York (1952) SKIDMORE, OWENS, MERRILL
16. Flatiron Building, New York
17. Chicago Tribune Tower, Chicago (1929) RAYMOND HOOD
 
 
Written by Robert Bannister, 1/4/98. Latest revision 1/27/98. May be reproduced in whole or part for educational purposes, but not copied or distributed for profit.