Ever since William Dean Howells declared his "realism war" in the 1880s, literary historians have regarded the rise of "realism" and "naturalism" as the great d

The Oxford Handbook of American Literary Realism offers fresh interpretations of the artistic and political challenges of representing life accurately. It is th

An exploration of the American realist tradition. It discusses and displays the most important work of the different groups and schools, including American Impr

Kaplan redefines American realism as a genre more engaged with a society in flux than with one merely reflective of the status quo. She reads realistic narrativ

Donald Pizer presents the major critical discussions of American realism and naturalism from the beginnings of the movement in the 1870s to the present. He incl