American Realism
Causes
fast immagration to crowded cities by Europeans
changes to the landscape caused by the industrial revolution
wanted to record everyday humans to capture the essence standardization was destroying
civil war opened eyes to true cruelty
western frontier had been conquered
rejection of romantisism
Authors
Mark Twain
father of American novel
first to use colloquialism
sorrows in life produce humor
Books
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Tom Sawyer
Ambrose Bierce
colonel in union army
wrote nonfiction essays and war literature
Books
An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge
Stephan Crane
eastern writer
war correspondent
Books
Red Badge of Courage
The Open Boat
Themes
emphasis on verisimilitude
written for the growing middle class
hardly uses an omniscient narrator
realistic, unpersonal diction