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NATURALIST SCHOOL OF WRITING.
Term Paper ID:30790
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Discusses literary theories of Zola and the naturalists.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Discusses literary theories of Zola and the naturalists. Zola's vision of fiction as representing the world with unadorned realism. Their desire to achieve transparency. Influence of 19th century science and work of Darwin, Comte and Taine on the literary approach taken by the Naturalists. Stylistic and social reasons for the naturalist school.
Paper Introduction:
Zola (1864) held that there were three windows of literary mimesis: the Classical (which enlarges), the Romantic (which distorts), and the Realist (which is transparent). As the leader of the naturalist school of writing Zola was committed to a vision of fiction as the representation the world in a manner that provided a window on reality, presenting it unadorned and plain as it really was. This is an analogy that is very telling since it refers not just to the supposed transparency of naturalist fiction that enables the viewer to 'see' that world, but to the pane of glass that is interposed between the world and the viewer and to the framework of the window that makes a selection from the wider world that defines exactly what part of the world the novelist wishes the reader to see. The act of framing is attributed to the novelist but the implications that
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A. Thenovelist chooses one subject from many millions and each word placed on thepage also represents a choice. But everything from the depth and breadth of the view to thetinting of the glass is the work of the writer and just as, in certaincircumstances, the glass of a window reflects the interior so does thefiction inevitably reflect the writer. Struck by the novelty ofthis transformed world many artists believed that new forms of art--specifically modern forms--were needed to convey their reaction to it.Thus the choice of subject matter was equally important in realism and(even though there is no reason why realism cannot portray any kind oflife) writers concentrated at first on many of the worst aspects ofsociety; on the lives of the poor, the criminal, and the disadvantaged.This was, in part, a social mission since if society at large could have aclear view of these lives then, as some artists felt, something would bedone about the conditions that caused their misery. One reader may see the object as brick-red, another as apple-red.One may see a child's wooden barrow, hand-made, squared-off and very deepwhile another might see a shiny metal object produced in a factory. This is an analogy that is verytelling since it refers not just to the supposed transparency of naturalistfiction that enables the viewer to 'see' that world, but to the pane ofglass that is interposed between the world and the viewer and to theframework of the window that makes a selection from the wider world thatdefines exactly what part of the world the novelist wishes the reader tosee. Even if the writer does not intend to interposehimself between reader and subject this must happen. Thus, even when awriter strives merely to describe as realistically as possible what isbefore him he interferes with himself. New laws were being discovered that helped toexplain so much more about the natural world that many intellectuals andartists were convinced that science and reason would provide not just thekey to all the knowledge of the world humans could need but to any means ofunderstanding that world. There were both stylistic and social reasons for the turn tonaturalism. The act of framing is attributed to the novelist but the implicationsthat this act has for the transparency of his realism was not adequatelyunderstood by those who proposed this idea as a means of making transparentfiction. The glass that separates the world from the reader may betransparent insofar as one can see through it into the world depicted bythe writer. Ironically, however, the effort of the novelistto depict reality as plainly as possible--or at least to be aware of itsimpossibility--has a function that is every bit as socially conscious asthe reformist inclinations of early naturalism. On the one hand, writers such as Zola were reacting againstthe exaggerations of the Classical style and the distortions of theRomantic, which had come to seem excessive and as having little relevanceto modern life. Fiction is now seen bymany writers as a means by which human beings increase their knowledge ofthemselves as a group. As writers became more aware of the impossibility of a trulytransparent fiction they tended return to being more open about their'presence' in the pages and employed irony to comment on the impossibilityof a transparent realism. The chief influences on the emerging naturalist point of view in thenineteenth century were "Darwin's biological theories, Comte's applicationof scientific ideas to the study of society, and Taine's application ofdeterministic theories to literature" (Cuddon, 574). Works CitedAuerbach, Erich. Fiction--from oraltraditions to novels to television programs--is one of the important meansby which human beings assimilate these experiences and fiction can be usedin this way because it is not transparent, unfiltered reality but artfullyre-worked reality that is given to its audience by artists who interposethemselves between us and the real world in an act of interpretation. On the other hand, the effects of the industrialrevolution on the cities and, especially, on the workers and the poorbrought a new social awareness to many people. But transparency in fiction is really no morethan an attractive myth. The new preeminenceof science in mid- and late-nineteenth-century Europe led Zola and othersto place their faith in theories that seemed, at last, to be able toexplain the world adequately. In addition, the writer must shape anarrative by deciding when to stop and start and which actions andconversations and thoughts will be presented in detail and which will besummarized or omitted altogether. 3rd ed. Other artists, however, merely wished to see clearly and weremotivated by the aesthetic impulse to strive to depict life astransparently as possible. Elements of drama or comedy, emotionallyresonant details and exemplary instances of behaviors or characteristicshave to be formulated by the writer as well in order to give the fictionthe means of connecting with its audience. This wasfully understood by Erich Auerbach, the most famous scholar of literarymimesis who wrote that "the overall shape of our life" can only be attainedthrough "a ceaselessly evolving process of shaping and interpretation ofwhich we ourselves are the object [and] this attainment depends upon theextent to which we are constrained and inclined and able to assimilate theexperiences that crowd upon us" (Auerbach, 489). The most modern of scientific approachescould, they believed, be applied to the observation of humanity as well asto the rest of nature. Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. Clearly, of course, writers of fiction do not do this. Zola (1864) held that there were three windows of literary mimesis:the Classical (which enlarges), the Romantic (which distorts), and theRealist (which is transparent). New York: Penguin, 1991. As the leader of the naturalist school ofwriting Zola was committed to a vision of fiction as the representation theworld in a manner that provided a window on reality, presenting itunadorned and plain as it really was. Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature. How much more complicated,then, is the process of selection when dealing with truly complex subjectssuch as the interrelations of human beings, the structures of theirsocieties, the nature of their actions, and the workings of their minds.The writer's process is, of course, nothing but a series of choices. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1953.Cuddon, J. For, while it is possible to avoid the meaningfuldistortions that make characters greater then human beings really are oridealize their settings or their emotions, it is not possible to eliminatethe hand of the artist. Zola and the naturalists believed that they could achieve thistransparency if they employed the power inherent in scientific observation. Thus they argued that in using the same rigorousscientific observation on their human characters as Darwin, for example,used on the animal kingdom, they would be able to produce representationsof human society that were as true to reality as possible. And the reflections engendered by reading can evenbe used by the reader who gets to know himself better as well. Most importantly, as thesocially-conscious efforts of some of the early naturalists showed, thewriter's own agenda influences the choice of subject and the way it isportrayed. One may write, for example, about a"little red wheelbarrow" but what is the picture this creates for thereader? The onlyway to control this is to add to the description by specifying exactly towhich type of barrow, in which shade, and so many other variables, one isreferring. But thisdemonstrates that they are forced to select among the details in order topresent a picture of even the simplest object. Onemay have a solid wheel and the other may have a pneumatic tire.
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