English 273 - American Realism

"Realism" as the mode and attitude that dominates American literary expression. Major texts from the period 1865-1925; writers defining, refining, revising, and reversing the realist aesthetics of the age as they cope with new facts and ideas-Darwin, freed slaves, big business, immigrants, "the woman problem," crime in the streets, the making of new fortunes, the loss of a usable past.