Realism in Literature- An overview of Realism

The Realist movement in literature began in France in the 1830s as a response to the previous Romantic movement, driven by the Industrial Revolution and rapid advancements in science. Realism in literature is the objective approach of depicting things exactly as they are, rather than the elaboration or abstraction of the subjective Romantic writers. Realism developed because writers were forced to examine their rapidly changing societies amidst the Industrial Revolution, and were influenced by science …

…War and Peace, by Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, is also typical of the Realist style because it simply depicts Russian life during the Napoleonic era, without any added imagination that one would find in a Romantic piece, such as Faust. This play is about a scenario between God, the Devil, and a human being who exemplifies the ideals of the Romantics. The Realists wrote objectively because they were tired of being so unconnected with reality.