Kate Chopi ad Stephe Crae Chopi, 1850-1904 Crae, 1871-1900
Impressioist Writers Both kow for brilliat, iovative style Leared from realist writers (Chopi-- Emile Zola, Guy de Maupassat; Crae-- Howells, Kiplig, Tolstoy especially)
Impressioist Writers Sometimes called Impressioist writers Reality ot simply out there, uchagig, eteral Reality depeds o observer, poit-of-view Cocered with mood, sesatios The artist attempts to preset the impressios a object makes upo him or her, rather tha a objectively realistic versio of the object itself.
19th Cetury Realism: verisimilitude Gustave Corbet, The Stoe Breakers, 1849-1850
Impressioist Paitig Claude Moet s Paitigs of Roue Cathedral
Impressioism ad Chopi Calixta, at home, felt o ueasiess for their safety. She sat at a side widow sewig furiously o a sewig machie. She was greatly occupied ad did ot otice the approachig storm. But she felt very warm ad ofte stopped to mop her face o which the perspiratio gathered i beads. She ufasteed her white sacque at the throat. It bega to grow dark, ad suddely realizig the situatio she got up hurriedly ad wet about closig widows ad doors (436).
Impressioism ad The Ope Boat NONE of them kew the color of the sky. Their eyes glaced level, ad were fasteed upo the waves that swept toward them. These waves were of the hue of slate, save for the tops, which were of foamig white, ad all of the me kew the colors of the sea. The horizo arrowed ad wideed, ad dipped ad rose, ad at all times its edge was jagged with waves that seemed thrust up i poits like rocks (603). U.S.S. Commodore
Stephe Crae Wrote Maggie, A Girl of the Streets (published 1893) whe he was oly 21 His masterpiece, The Red Badge of Courage (1895) published before he was 24 Worked as a war correspodet i Greece, Cuba, ad Mexico Died at age 28 i 1900 from tuberculosis Crae posig i Greece durig Greco-Turkish War i 1897
Maggie ad Naturalism Crae (largely through Maggie, A Girl of the Streets) associated with Literary Naturalism New York City Teemets, circa 1900
Naturalism Literary movemet startig i the late 19th C, ifluetial o first half of 20th C Sub-set of Realism Realism iterested i ordiary; Naturalism i extraordiary Friges of society: the crimial, the falle, the dow-ad-out Scietific determiism Fate = Eviromet + Chace Realists as observers; Naturalists as experimetal scietists Characters as represetative of social groups Symbols used to express social messages
Rebecca Hardig Davis: A Early Naturalist? Life i the Iro Mills follows patter of aturalist works: Focus o friges of society Characters represetative of social groups Eviromet +Chace Happeig= Hugh Wolfe s fate
Futility ad The Ope Boat : A Sisyphus Parable? A sigular disadvatage of the sea lies i the fact that after successfully surmoutig oe wave you discover that there is aother behid it just as importat ad just as ervously axious to do somethig effective i the way of swampig boats. I a te-foot digey oe ca get a idea of the resources of the sea i the lie of waves that is ot probable to the average experiece, which is ever at sea i a digey (604).
How is Nature Iitially Preseted? p. 604: Aimal imagery p. 604:...it was ot difficult to imagie that this particular wave was the fial outburst of the ocea, the last effort of the grim water. There was a terrible grace i the move of the waves, ad they came i silece save for the sarlig of the crests.
Importace of Perspective I the wa light, the faces of the me must have bee gray. Their eyes must have glited i strage ways as they gazed steadily aster. Viewed from a balcoy, the whole thig would doubtlessly have bee weirdly picturesque. But the me i the boat had o time to see it, ad if they had had leisure there were other thigs to occupy their mids. The su swug steadily up the sky, ad they kew it was broad day because the color of the sea chaged from slate to emerald-gree, streaked with amber lights, ad the foam was like tumblig sow. The process of the breakig day was ukow to them. They were aware oly of this effect upo the color of the waves that rolled toward them (604).
The Me i the Boat Who s i the boat? What is each ma like?
Reality as Iterpreted Me i the boat see people o shore They iterpret what they see i terms of their ow situatio Iitially, they thik a ma is wavig to them, the haulig a lifeboat o wheels Fially, they have to realize the people o shore have othig to do with them A idifferet uiverse, i which humas themselves supply order, meaig?
A Godless Uiverse Whe it occurs to a ma that ature does ot regard him as importat, ad that she feels she would ot maim the uiverse by disposig of him, he at first wishes to throw bricks at the temple, ad he hates deeply the fact that there are o bricks ad o temples. Ay visible expressio of ature would surely be pelleted with his jeers. The, if there be o tagible thig to hoot he feels, perhaps, the desire to cofrot a persoificatio ad idulge i pleas, bowed to oe kee, ad with hads supplicat, sayig: "Yes, but I love myself. A high cold star o a witer's ight is the word he feels that she says to him. Thereafter he kows the pathos of his situatio (614).
So, what are we left with? If, ultimately, ature ad God are idifferet to ma, how do we get alog i the world? Does the story leave us with ay hope?