SUMMARY
American fiction had for the most part been romantic from its beginning
until the last part of the nineteenth century. Charles Brockden Brown,
Irving, Cooper, Hawthorne, Poe, Bret Harte, and Mark Twain were all tinged
with romanticism. In the latter part of the last century, there arose a
school of realists who insisted that life should be painted as it is,
without any addition to or subtraction from reality. This school did not
ask, "Is the matter interesting or exciting?" but, "Is it true to life?"
Howells and James were the leaders of the realists. Howells uses everyday
incidents and conversations. James not infrequently takes unusual
situations, so long as they conform to reality, and subjects them to the
most searching psychological analysis. Mary Wilkins Freeman, a pupil of
Howells, shows exceptional skill in depicting with realistic interest the
humble life of provincial New England. While this school did not turn all
writers into extreme realists, its influence was felt on the mass of
contemporary fiction.
Walt Whitman brings excessive realism into the form and matter of verse.
For fear of using stock poetic ornaments, he sometimes introduces mere
catalogues of names, uninvested with a single poetic touch.
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