Naturalistic Philosophy - Essay Example

Introduction Naturalism stands for the idea that only natural things e. g beliefs and ideas should operate in the world. Naturalists also believe that natural laws are the responsible for the changes of the universe. It emphasizes the realistic aspect of existence. French writers were the source of inspiration to the American writers making them adopt the genre as their own later. Years after the civil war were majorly made up of healing and reconciliation. For American writers, on the other hand, it was the beginning of the way through which fictional characters presented in relation to the external world. Plot characters development showed the degree of control that man had over their destiny (Pizer, 1998). Naturalistic Philosophy American realizes that the power of outside forces is what limited humanity’s freedom of choice, to them individuals had no choice since their lives dedicated to only hereditary and external environment. To naturalists, humanity was helpless and wholly dependent on nature’s favors. American naturalism got to its peak at around the beginning of the nineteenth century. Charles Darwin’s theory of phylogeny also played a great role (Sawaya, 1950). Malcolm Cowley states that, years between the first and second world wars were a flourishing time for the American writers. American literature had attained a new maturity and an abundant diversity. Marked by the publication of several works? It was at this time that memorable works published though they were not up to standard an excellent number became influential and were later in time criticized (Pizer, 1998). Most novels that were written around this time majorly based on the war that had just ended. It was only by means of civil war that the young country could achieve both unification and peace. Stephen Cranes, The Red Budge of Courage, illustrates an actual description of fighting in the civil war that ended up leading their country to victory. Novels about the war have been the most reliable ways of writing about the war life (Crane, 2004). Some permeated with a lot of protests therefore they were named war books in general. In the history of America, war writings are considered to have taken a greater part of the portion when all books put together. It was around this time that Stephen Crane’s The Red Budge was written and published for the first time. Its location being the battlefield, Crane attempted to explain and draw the picture of what was happening during the war and in the lives of the soldiers. This novel is among a group of books that clearly explain the cultural impact of the world war (Crane, 2004). This novel has a realistic battle sequence, imagery, and ironic tone all put together. The novel also portrays psychological fear in the soldier when he left the war line and joined the injured that were going to medical assistance. The American literature writers comprised a new generation that came after the war that had different regional, social character and ethics from those that had been there before. There were immigrant young writers of which mostly Jews, only a few generation from slavery. War provided the young writers with a suitable subject and at the same time provided them with a useful tool in their career. They ended up discovering the power of language at a time there was a lot of distrust and disillusion. The political speech is responsible for the eruption of the war (Sawaya, 1950). Gave the would-be writers a real cultural icon and led them to acquire the freedom to take up the task of restoring and cleaning of the much-abused language. They also had the chance to invent their literature. Women also later joined the literary squad and started writing, they rose against feminism that had suppressed them for an extended period and began speaking in a new voice. All this happened at a time when the post-war environment was still conservative. Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie went against the restriction and norms when he wrote and published this novel. Morality and sexuality were issues not to be talked about openly in the conservative American atmosphere. In her novel, she publicly described how Carrie, the main actor, moved from staying with one man to the next. Carrie got into addiction as a result of reduced decision-making. Peer influence in another case. Becoming a mistress to Hurstwood also gives a wrong character to led role (Dreiser, 1998). World war novels always treated as narrative frameworks. Their importance is visible, and the qualities of intensification and action are always at the disposal of the writers, a factor that has changed due to the occurrence of the Great War that made war a protagonist. War, therefore, does not wholly contribute to being the sole subject of writing like it had been earlier. There was also different voices that were heard (Pizer, 1995). They were those of affirmation rather than negotiation. But in the end it ushered in conscious and extensive critics of literature in the war due to the flooding study of war literature in America. The Red Badge of Courage is among the first war books published when it was not an outstanding genre. Most intellectuals agreed to the validity of and significance of war discussions in the literature (Crane, 2004). Fiedler in his book, Love and Death thinks differently, he states that they are mere sentiments. Though they are few cases, war literature also has suffered criticisms and these are due to the different periods in which it happened. There was also a compilation of works on a war published. Americans were not in the war but were only reacting to the impacts of the war on the country’s literature. Their distance from the war enabled the production of this war literature. The end of the war did not bring the writing and publication of war stories to a halt or the critics this genre faced but rather it developed on a larger scale. They also emerge a group of a scholar who offered a guide to the war writers who were new in the field. Some of the approaches that were being used in the writings were similar. It led to the writing of a new dimension that thoroughly criticizes the earlier works whose writers did not treat American literature as part of English literature (Sawaya, 1950). The second phase was full of dissatisfaction of the negativism of world war novels, and Joseph Remenyi therefore attempted to judge these writers on the criteria of humanists. He demanded affirmation from these war books. He described them as those that impress upon readers magnificence and wastefulness of human energies and touches the innermost existence of man and go against the nothingness of the human life. Chester Eisinger, mainly a world war two critique also holds the same view. In his article, he compares the novels of all wars and concludes, “a heightened moral consciousness of the war novels should be highly valued. Their negativism has not exclusively taken into consideration due to people’s concern for the immediate interests of the war". To the disappointment and disapproval of later scholars, most studies generalize the contexts in which these war novels written with the inevitable consequence of understanding the value of the books and finally the position of the writers. A good example is John Aldridge in his work, After the Lost Generation: A Critical Study of Writers of Two Wars. That is primarily based on his assumption that war writers of the WW1 were particular observers who are immunized by the good fortune of their service on the pictorial aspect of the war. He also claims that these writers were irresponsible and only thrilled at second hand by the danger that was present. Instead, they got excitement from the situation at hand. He also accused these young writers of only feeling romantic distillation of other people’s despair thus making their feeling of pity in their texts unbelievable. A critical model has also been invented to aid in the interpretation of these war novels together. Charles Walcutt asserts that there has been a circle of patterns attitude towards the war, and he explains that it begins with guilt, turns to fear and ends with confrontation. After the war was sorrow and guilt again causing fear that almost got completely lost in literature. The literary aspect of the war novels came into the limelight as questions were being asked, and criticisms being published. Charles Bruce is one writer who was linked with this issue of criticism when he published his book, Major Literary Concept of Soldiers in War Certain. These writers’ works were limited due to the limited as they only dealt with certain themes in the war novels and not the whole book at a time. For instance, the theme of love and war was discussed even though it took not half of the content of a war novel. For example, Klein explains love in his works, and R. H. Mottram’s The Spanish Farm Trilogy arranged several works by different writers thematically. There was however other breakthroughs in the American literature. There was an integration of fiction in the writing. The American moral at this period was so high and films and novels that showed indecencies of any kind is harshly criticized. These deterred writers from exploring romance in their works. During the break through the writers began spicing their works with love. Others even went ahead to write exclusively romantic literature. They rather deal with it as purely American. For instance, Gummere’s article “War and Romance” analyzed the war effects on the writing of romance a genre that Nathaniel Hawthorne advanced in with great success. Theodore Dreiser’s book, Sister Carrie, is a good example of the romance genre novel that was written at this time. The main cast in the story evolves from being a humble and responsible lady to a mistress and later to a lone woman whose leaves her husband to put up with a friend who advised her. Carrie’s passion for theater arts also comes handy whenever she needs a job to sustain herself (Draiser, 1998). There has been no other critic of literary works that can be compared with that of the war books of the earlier times. Most of the works that were being studied were entirely those authored by male writers thereby failing the test of comprehensiveness (Pizer, 1998). Women are naturally considered inferior, in the same line there was an ever-spreading influence of the feminist movement. Female scholars directed their time to studying women war works. One of the first, naturalistic works in America was done by Stephen Crane when he wrote, Maggie: A Girl of The Streets (Sawaya, 1950). This work was unique of the time it was published because of its vulgar dialect; as a result he sold very little copies of the novel. For the few who read it they saw the promising talent in American literature. Despite the resounding works written by naturalists in America, their primary aim was to reduce the level of poverty in America. They intended their works to serve as warning on the deteriorating nature of mankind in the land. Most of the novels had several imageries that portrayed the society as it appeared (Taylor, 1950). This style of writing was relatively short-lived, and very few writers succeeded in their writing careers having taken naturalism therefore it is difficult to gauge the total effect of naturalism on the path of American literature. However, these do not mean that naturalism did not make any sound changes in the research sector of America. Some of the naturalistic works are relevant to the present times thus providing evidence of earlier time. They also have ironies that should not pass modern readers in spite of the presence of disconnect between the several authors that used it in their works. Work Cited Crane, Stephen. The Red Badge of Courage. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2004. Print. Dreiser, Theodore. Sister Carrie. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998. Print. Pizer, Donald. Documents of American Realism and Naturalism. Carbondale, Ill. [u.a.: Southern Illinois Univ. Press, 1998. Print. Pizer, Donald. The Cambridge Companion to American Realism and Naturalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Internet resource. Sawaya, Francesca. Modern Women, Modern Work: Domesticity, Professionalism, and American Writing, 1890-1950. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004. Internet resource. Taylor, Clare L. Women, Writing, and Fetishism, 1890-1950: Female Cross-Gendering. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. Print. Read More