The Red Badge of Courage

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• Leerjaar 5

by Stephen Crane 

Stephen Crane 

1871- 1900

American poet, novelist, short story writer and journalist 

RBOC is an American classic 

Naturalism 

Why does it matter what literary period a work is written in?

1. Easier to compare and contrast the work with other texts.
2. Most literature responds to cultural trends of its day.
3. The time of a work tells a lot about the author and who read it.
4. All of these are right

A literary movement is defined by...

1. a group of writers with shared ideas about music & dance moves
2. a group of readers with shared ideas about a number of things
3. a group of writers with shared ideas about a number of things
4. None of the above

Literary movement 

is defined by a group of writers with shared ideas about a number of things ranging from style, content, philosophy, sociological concerns, art, culture, etc.

Usually these
authors are considered part of a "movement" because they have similar ideas about 

something.

Literary periods 

are spans of time for literature that shares intellectual, linguistic, religious, and artistic influences.

Shakespeare

Literary period:

The Renaissance 

(1500-1670)

Literary movement:

Elizabethan literature 

The Victorian Period 

Influential types of literature 

1. Realism 

2. Naturalism

But we're talking about an American author 

Naturalism

Naturalists sought to apply the scientific method to the study of humanity. 

The natural sciences as a methodological model: Darwinism

Darwinian evolutionary theory as a way of describing the mechanism of natural selection.

1. May the best man win
2. Survival of the fittest
3. You snooze you lose
4. Get rich or die trying

At its basis

Naturalism holds that biological urges guide man, even when it may not seem obvious. 

Humans are always looking out for themselves by their nature. 

Naturalism 

Crane pioneered American naturalism, a literary movement that represented people in a deterministic and generally pessimistic light as products of heredity and environment. 

What is determinism?

1. lack of free will
2. free will
3. freedom
4. choice

We are smart animals who are simply subject to the scientific laws of cause and effect

Naturalism Characteristics 

Objectivity and detachment in study of human beings;

Characters mostly from lower middle or the lower classes; 

Discussion of fate; 

Naturalism in literature

Set in the commonplace and unheroic;

Exposure of social conditions and social evils, lives of the lower classes 

Characters conditioned and controlled by the environment, heredity, chance, or instinct 

Struggle for life and to maintain human dignity becomes heroic

After reading the first chapters what characteristics of Naturalism have you already encountered?