REALISM IN FICTION

INTRODUCTION EPISTEMOLOGICAL ROOTS The term Realism comes from medieval interpretation and adaptations of Greek philosophy but the meanings are quite different from what it means today. In medieval philosophy Realism is contrasted with Conceptualism and Nominalism which address the problem of universals. It expounds that idea is the replica of individual things and these individual things are universal devoid of individuality. The idealists like Hegel reject the notion of realism, True reality lies beyond sensation and the objects we see every day. Only what exists in itself is real; art digs an abyss between the appearance and illusion of this bad and perishable world, on the one hand, and the true content of events on the other hand, to re-clothe these events and phenomena with a higher reality, born of the mind, far from being simple approaches and illustrations of ordinary reality, the manifestations of art poses a higher reality and a true existence. The commonplace notion that realism is a Style less or transparent style a mere simulacrum or mirror image of visual reality, is a barrier to its understanding as an historical and stylistic phenomenon. This is a gross simplification, for realism was no more a mere mirror of reality. In the mid-nineteenth century, however, scientists and historians seemed to be rereading as break neck speed more and more about reality past and present. There were no apparent limits to the discovery of what could be known about man and nature. Realist writers and artists were likewise explorers in the realm of fact and experience, venturing into areas hitherto untouched or only partly investigated by their predecessors. The very aspirations of realism, in its old nave sense, are denied by the contemporary outlook which asserts and demands the absolute independence of the world of art from the world of reality and indeed disputes the existence of any single, equivocal reality at all. We no longer

accept any fixed correspondence between the syntax of language and an ideally structured universe. Realism as a reaction to romanticism deals with objective perspective and it clearly represents the subject matter of the story even at the expense of well-made plot. The main concerns of nineteenth century realist writers are social, economic and political and they depict various aspects of life. Due to the representation of the details of a specific historical era realistic fiction seems to have a documentary quality. They explore social and psychological factors and paid attention to the complexities of the human psychology. They captured regional dialects and differences in the speech patterns of the people belonging to different socio-economic conditions. DEFINITION Roger Lathbury in Realism and Regionalism defines literary realism as, A series of conventions designed to make a literary work seemed to be a faithful representation of reality. And realist writer is, One who believes that it is most important to adhere to concrete facts then to present idealized versions of existence. According to M.J.Turner, Realism brings the many variations of everyday living to the reader. The author attempts to widen and sharpen our awareness and insight into life. Characters are true-to-life and not particularly heroic; settings are without experience and are realistic; conflicts are the result of the human problems and endeavors, often shocking the reader out of his complacency and plot is secondary to characterization and theme, placing emphasis on human values and understanding. All elements are used to increase the readers awareness of the human condition physically, morally, emotionally and spiritually in true-to- life situations.

ORIGIN The roots of literary realism can be traced out in the mid nineteenth century movement that was developed in France. It was the dominant movement from about 1840 until 1870-80. Its aim was to give a truthful objective and impartial representation of the real world, based on meticulous observation of contemporary life. It is an approach that attempts to describe life without idealization or romantic subjectivity. Aristotles mimesis was the classical name of the relationship between literature and reality, before it was replaced by the relatively recent term Realism. 1. FRENCH REALISM Realism is a historical movement in the figurative arts and in literature, it entertained its most coherent and consistent formulation in France. Gustav Flaubert, Honore de Balzac and Guy de Maupassant patronized realism in France. Balzac is considered as the originator of realism, Flaubert is known for being one of the great masters of this genre and Maupassant is celebrated as one of the best short story writers of the century. It is pertinent to note that realism depicted modern subjects drawn from the everyday life of the working class manifested in art. Gustav Courbet stated that, Painting is an essentially concrete art and can only consist in the representation of real and existing things. This representation of working class into the realms of high art and literature, later on coincided with socialist philosophy of Karl Marx which resulted into working class (proletariat) uprising. Early realist advocated a plain writing style, devoid of moral intention or authorial interpretation that was primarily concerned with character and represented common people engaged in everyday activities. Balzacs La Comedie Humaine a series of novels which represented French society with a strong romantic sensibility, to which many reacted. On the other hand, Flauberts famous novel Madame Bovary represents an objective portrayal of bourgeois French society. Jules-Franois-Felix Husson (called Champfleury), a novelist and art critic, also stressed the importance of careful research and factual documentation in the modern novel. Champfleury is also remembered for another significant theoretical innovation, his 1856 declaration "that every serious novelist was an impersonal being who did not judge, condemn, or

absolve." The Realists embraced this stance of total impartiality and sought a complete elimination of the artist from the work in much the same way that the contemporary painter Gustave Courbet had. Little read in the twentieth century, the Goncourt brothers were, like Duranty and Champfleury, theorists as well as novelists, whose writings again emphasized the new direction for the French novel based on the exploitation and extensive research into what they called "human documents." In 1864 they wrote, "the novel of today is composed from documents, received by word of mouth or taken direct from nature, just as history is composed from written documents. Historians write narratives of the past, novelists narratives of the present." Their results, considered by some to be the first works of Naturalism, included writings dealing with the minutiae of character, such as Rene Mauperin (1864), one of the first novels to analyze its protagonist as a psychological "case study." In 1880, the publication of a collection of short stories under the title Les Soires de Mdan by Emile Zola, Guy de Maupassant, Joris-Karl Huysmans, Paul Alexis, Henry Card, and Lon Hennique, formally initiated the movement of Naturalism. Zola, who had already published L'Assommoir (1877) and written his essay "Le Roman exprimental" (1880), took his place as head of the new movement, claiming a greater emphasis on the scientific and analytical than in its predecessor, Realism. Since both the terms ralisme and naturalisme had been in use since mid-century with varying definitions and significances, however, critics have acknowledged that the distinctions between the two are somewhat hazy. As a movement, therefore, Naturalism is discrete from Realism more in name than in fact, although scholars have generally characterized it as distinguished by Zola's heightened sense of determinism and more complete rejection of literary idealism. Among the other Naturalists only Maupassant, whose novel Une Vie (1883) is reminiscent of Madame Bovary, has approached Flaubert and Zola in terms of overall importance. Contemporary commentators find in the works of Flaubert, Zola, and Maupassant a failure to efface the personal biases of the author or to eliminate ideological and allegorical aspects from their works in favor of a truly objective tone. Still, the prevalent influence of the Realists in the twentieth century is consistently acknowledged by critics, who have elevated Flaubert, Zola, and some of their precursors (such as Stendhal and Balzac) into the most important figures in nineteenth-century French literature and have seen in their works the roots of the great novels of the twentieth century.

2. RUSSAIN REALISM: There were four major realists in Russian; Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Turgenev, and Chekhov. Turgenev's short stories depict tales of rural peasant life in Russia. His works also address psychological themes of love and passion that result in tragedy. Dostoevsky's novellas are celebrated as masterworks of psychological realism in their portrayal of individuals haunted by their own dark impulses. The main thematic concern of Tolstoy's stories are the struggles of the Russian peasantry, the place of women in Russian family and society, military life and combat, and psychological, philosophical, and religious reflections on life and death. Chekhov's stories portray characters from many sectors of Russian society, including the peasantry, the intelligentsia, and the world of industrial commerce. Often described as character-sketches, his short stories are characterized by simple plotlines, a precise, almost clinical, narrative voice, and lyrical language. Vissarion Belinsky a major literary critic is worth mentioning in the first stage of Russian realism, whose criticism introduced it to the public and built support for it. His interpretation of Nikolai Gogol, a writer of the previous generation, is a prime example. Here is what American critic, Renato Poggioli says about it: Belinsky believed that Russian reality was the real object of Gogol's contemplation, and that Gogol represented the ugliness of that reality not only to exalt It to the beauty of art but also to help his readers to change it. Belinsky also assigned this program to those writers whom he gathered under the banner of what he called the "natural school. But the program cannot be attributed to Gogol; nor can it be fully or literally applied even to those masters of Russian realism who were aware of the social mission of art, but unable to interpret it with the narrowminded dogmatism and the fanatical zeal of those radical critics who were Belinsky's offspring. In other words, Belinsky used Gogol as a springboard to promote his own ideas

regarding oblichitel'nava literatura, i.e., expos literature, or critical realism. He disputed the Romantic concept of "art for art's sake and firmly believed that social evils and the shortcomings of individuals should be analyzed and exposed in literature.

Realism, he argued, should Inspire and encourage the reading public to improve society. Also using the term, "natural school, to Identify the new literature, Belinsky promoted it by the publication of two anthologies, The Physiology of Petersburg and Petersburg Collection, which he edited along with the poet, Nikolai Nekrasov. These anthologies were full of mostly plotless sketches or "slices of life pertinent to lower class, urban life in Russia. On the other hand, Chekovs short stories are remarkable since they neither followed the traditional exposition, development and closure nor they were heavily plotted. The closures are so stunning that Virginia Woolf tends to ask; But is it the end? It appears as if a tune has stopped without the expected chords to close it. Some might argue that it renders the story inconclusive since it doesnt end the way we recognize it to end. Chekhov is considered to be Carvers master; who suggested that, it is compactness that makes short things live long, detailed works have their own peculiar aims, which require a most careful execution regardless of the total impression. But in short stories it is better not to say enough than to say too much, because, -because- I dont know why. The Huntsman is a good example of Chekhovian glimpse; it is a story with an inter-textual dimension that alludes to the Turgenevain gaze of The Meeting. Both the stories are one-scene stories depicting somewhat similar plots, while Turgenevs story is about 4,000 words long and devotes 1,300 of them to detailed description of the natural setting and the weather, etc. On the other hand, Chekhovs The Huntsman is less than 2,000 words long, dispensing with both visual and specification of devices. He didnt attach much attributes to the temporal and spatial limits of observation. The Lady with the Little Dog takes place over the period of a year; hence for Chekhov intensity of focus is more important and a prerequisite for a powerful impression. For Chekhov, the writer should be an unbiased witness instead of judging his characters and their conversations, because there is a difference between stating a problem and solving a problem. The artist just states the problem. Moreover, these are the aesthetic readings of Chekhov that treat his stories as realist works of art. In his stories, the characters often respond to music than to works of visual art as music seems to be able to express human grief. In the last decade of his creative life around 1894, Chekhov shifted the centre of gravity towards arousing in the reader the deepest possible mental activity. The Student is a good example of it.

2. ENGLISH REALISM George Eliot introduced realism in England. It is chiefly concerned with the common places of the everyday life among the middle and lower classes, where character is a product of social factors and environment is the integral element in the dramatic complications. Realists expanded their field of vision in a wider range of experience. It opened up a whole new realm of subjects hitherto unnoticed or considered unworthy of pictorial and literary representation. Realist short fiction written in English developed out of the influence of French and Russian literary realism. In England, the foremost author was Charles Dickens, while scholars later came to admire the writings of Anthony Trollope. Realistic fiction is antagonistic to the romantic heroines Charlotte Bronte exposes as empty vessels. The 18th-century works of Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding, and Tobias Smollett are among the earliest examples of realism in English literature. It was consciously adopted as an aesthetic program in France in the mid-19th century, when interest arose in recording previously ignored aspects of contemporary life and society; Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary (1857) established the movement in European literature. The realist emphasis on detachment and objectivity, along with lucid but restrained social criticism, became integral to the novel in the late 19th century. The word has also been used critically to denote excessive minuteness of detail or preoccupation with trivial, sordid, or squalid subjects.

From the gesture toward the real, mock-heroic simile, from fielding to Thackeray and Trollope there is an echo of some literature that has imagined a very different reality. In England, the satirical denial of early often quixotic, literary modes becomes a kind of signature of realism. The literariness is a mark of realisms necessary self-consciousness, but it tends to be driven by a strong moral and aesthetic impulse. Realism tended to be the dominant narrative mode of a Victorian England in which perhaps the greatest of all virtues, greater than sexual-propriety was truth-telling. Observing things as they are, even with quasi-scientific detachment, displaces false representations with authentic ones and forces us, as readers, out of the kinds of delusions that lead to moral disaster.

James Joyce's early volume of short stories Dubliners is an encompassing analysis of the stagnation of the paralysis of Dublin society. Irish experiences constitute an essential element of his writings, and provide all of the settings for his fiction and much of its subject matter. The stories in Dubliners incorporate epiphanies, a word used particularly by Joyce, by which he meant a sudden consciousness of the "soul" of a thing. Joyces stories of my childhood, that is, the first three stories in Dubliners, uses a cultural studies approach to consider how urban settings require realist prose fiction to present the cultural milieu of the stories. 3. AMERICAN REALISM In the United States, where realism appeared late in the 1800s, the best-known realist writers included William Dean Howells, Henry James, and Mark Twain. William Dean Howells is considered the most influential American literary realist of this time period who established himself as a prominent literary critic, championing the realist writing of American authors as well as introducing European realist fiction to American readers. In his short stories and novellas, James utilized a number of original themes, the most notable of which is the American abroad, or the international story. While some critics have taken exception to including Twain's short story works within the opus of American literary realism, others contend that his use of vernacular speech and focus on standard nineteenth-century social and ethical issuesbut with Twain's trademark caustic humor and acerbic witplaces him well within the boundaries of realist literature. In American literature, the term "realism" encompasses the period of time from the Civil War to the turn of the century during which William Dean Howells, Rebecca Harding Davis, Henry James, Mark Twain, and others wrote fiction devoted to accurate representation and an exploration of American lives in various contexts. As the United States grew rapidly after the Civil War, the increasing rates of democracy and literacy, the rapid growth in industrialism and urbanization, an expanding population base due to immigration, and a relative rise in middleclass affluence provided a fertile literary environment for readers interested in understanding these rapid shifts in culture. In drawing attention to this connection, Amy Kaplan has called realism a "strategy for imagining and managing the threats of social change" ( Social Construction of American Realism ix).

Howells novel The Rise of Silas Lapham, regarded by some as the first realist novel published in America, criticized the moral effects of capitalism and cultural elitism on the masses. (Martin ,Harvests of Change, p. 227) Howells believed in the righteousness of the working class, and it was his mission to show how capitalism enslaved the many for the benefit of the few. Realism was a moral movement as well as a literary one. Raymond Clevie Carver was an American short story writer and poet. Carver is considered a major American writer of the late 20th century and also a major force in the revitalization of the short story in the 1980s. He describes himself as hooked on writing short stories and inclined towards brevity and intensity. This brevity was partly because a short story can be written and read in one sitting. Carvers idea of realist short fiction, as something glimpsed from the corner of the eye, in passing, can be compared to Chekhovs idea of compactness. Carver describes the writers task as being to invest the glimpse with all that is in his power First the glimpse. Then the glimpse given life, something that will illuminate the moment and just may be lock it indelibly into the readers consciousness. On the subject of meaning, Craver says; writers job is not to provide conclusions or answers. If a story answers itself, its problems and conflicts, and meets its own requirements, then thats enough. He also comments about what a story communicates or expresses. Most importantly, three components can be identified through his discussion. First is artistic delight, this is the pleasure thats taken in reading something thats durable and made to last, as well as beautiful in and of itself. The other two components are affective impact and cognitive import which lead the reader to contemplate, to respond affectively, not just trying to determine the meaning. At the end of a successful story, there ought to be unity of feeling and understanding. Carver advocates the indispensability of a clear and specific language in order to bring to life the details that will light up the story for the reader. In addition, Carver believes that the significant detail of the things is an important point which adds to the inevitability of a realist short story.

Ernest Hemingway is another American short story writer. Baker believes Hemingway learned to "get the most from the least, how to prune language how to multiply intensities, and how to tell nothing but the truth in a way that allowed for telling more than the truth." Hemingway referred to his style as the iceberg theory (this is what Carver calls significant detail): in his writing the facts float above water; the supporting structure and symbolism operate out-of-sight. Writing in "The Art of the Short Story," he explains: "A few things I have found to be true. If you leave out important things or events that you know about, the story is strengthened. If you leave or skip something because you do not know it, the story will be worthless. The test of any story is how very good the stuff that you, not your editors, omit." It is believed that Hemingways style was fundamentally shaped in reaction to his experience of world war. After World War I, he and other modernists "lost faith in the central institutions of Western civilization," by reacting against the "elaborate style" of 19th century writers; and by creating a style "in which meaning is established through dialogue, through action, and silencesa fiction in which nothing crucialor at least very littleis stated explicitly." He writes in a style less reportorial than imagist, as Benson comments, bringing language to the intensity of image through ironic use of context and through presentation in repetitive patterns. The opening paragraph of In Another Country is an apt example of the same stance. 4. REALISM IN URDU LITERATURE A cursory look at the repertoire of Urdu prose reveals that the literature written before and after 1857 is utterly different in form and content. The efforts made by the Ali Garh School brought phenomenal changes in Urdu criticism, poetry, and fiction. Our fiction writers shed allegorical eloquence, fantasies, supernatural elements, elusive parables, uncanny tales and presented real life in their writings.

With the introduction of drastic changes in Western sciences and arts during the early and middle twentieth century, Urdu literature rose to new heights. Saijad Hyder Yaldram and Prem Chand introduced the genre of short story to Urdu readers. They revolted against the allegorical techniques, verbosity and linear narrative and substituted these elements with varying approaches of realism.

The progressive writers movement was launched in 1936 in London. Later in the same year, a conference was held in Lucknow and a manifesto of the movement was issued. They brought into play , a preference for realism, social realism, so-called socialist realism and even a variety of pre-ordained orientation through the writings of Krishan Chander and his contemporaries. The stories of Krishan Chander usually have a foundation in fact and, in addition, his choice of realistic detail within loosely spun plots gives his work an air of verisimilitude. But he is not severe or objective, but tender and sympathetic towards the misfortunes of humble people. Krishan Chnadar potrays the condition of the oppressed people by setting them within the context of exceptional natural beauty. He has contrasted effectively and painfully human cruelty with the lush scenery of the mountains. Rivers. Lakes and villages of Kashmir. His tone is satirical and some of his stories e.g, Galicha, Maha lakshmi ka phool, Kaalo Bhangi, Braham putra and Anddata. Anddata was exceptionally influential due to sharpness of its satire the intensity of its feeling and the boldness of its theme. The prominent vein of Realism travelled from Prem Chand to Krishan Chandar. The tradition set by Prem Chand in urdu was enriched by Krishan Chandar; he also took his subject matter and characters directly from life. Krishan Chandar started in that age when the world was passing through economic crisis. Plague, disputes and miseries of partition were things which he observed very closely and influenced his wirtings. In Calcata 1949 women took out a procession in favor of political prisons, bullets were fired on it. In this context he wrote his short story Barham putraIn 1954 a strike was observed in textile mills of Bombay, government fired on labourers, he wrote Phool surkh hain and made this incident permanent. A sikh revolutionary leader was taken to jail who afterwards died there, he wrote Marny waly saathi ki muskurahat and give a permenant life to that leader. In Bhut jagty hain we find the memory of that time when speech and writing were administered y the government. The short stories of Krishan Chandar is pregnant with fullness of life and it depicts characters directly from it. The Carvers urge for brevity and intensity is of course, quite obvious in Krishan Chandars writings. Hemingways iceberg theory of a very clear and significant language is also dispersed in Krishan. James Joyces Dubliner is parallel to Krishans Aangi which portrays the utter clash of civilization, poverty and Capitalist contradictions. In addition,

the ending of his stories are equally stunning and surprising, hence we are forced to ask; But is it the end? (Similar to Chekhovs). The endings which baffles Virginia Woolf since its not an expected one.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Ghiyas ud din, Muhammad. Fankaar Krishan Chandar. Dehli; Educational Publishing House. 2005. 2. Lathbury, Roger. Realism and Regionalism 1860-1910. New York; Facts On File, Inc. An imprint of Infobase Publishing. 2006. 3. Levine, George. Realism, Ethics and Secularism. Cambridge; Cambridge University Press. 2008. 4. McSweeny, Kerry. The realistic Short Story of the powerful glimpse; Chekhov to Carver. Columbia; University of South Carolina. 2007. 5. Nochlin, Linda. Realism. England; Penguin Books Ltd. 1971.