Naturalism refers to the study of nature and is often perceived as an extreme form of realism. Naturalism is an approach to literature that draws on the principles of causality, explanation, determinism, and experimentation. The naturalist writer observes man and his passions. The man believes that events and actions arise from specific causes.
In the late 19th century, naturalism emerged as a literary movement that rejected Romanticism. It was distinct in its embrace of determinism, detachment, scientific objectivism, and social commentary. The movement traces its roots primarily to the theories of French writer Émile Zola. The earliest example of Literary Naturalism can be found in
Émile Zola's "The Experimental Novel" (1880). It presents Zola's idea about a naturalistic novel, with philosophical roots in Auguste Comte's positivism, historian Hippolyte Taine and physiologist Claude Bernard. The scientific method proposed by Comte "went beyond empiricism and passive observation of phenomena." Zola argued that naturalism should function in literature as controlled experiments. The tradition of naturalism originated from literary realism, and realism distinguished itself by favoring fact, logic, and impersonality over imagination, symbolism, and superstition.
Frank Norris was primarily a naturalist. Norris placed realism, Romanticism, and Naturalism in
opposition to each other, with Romanticism opposing realism. He saw naturalism as a mixture of both. Norris's definition of naturalism is devoid of materialistic determinism or other philosophic notions. Naturalism can be seen in many novels and dramas, such as:
Hardy's Jude the Obscure, 1895,
Various plays by Eugene O'Neill in the 1920s,
Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead is set during World War II.
It can also be seen in an ironic comedy of manners in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, 1813.
An excellent example of naturalism is naturalistic novels such as:
Émile Zola's Nana, 1880,
Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy, 1925.
Expressionism and symbolism initially opposed Realism and Naturalism in the nineteenth century. American Naturalism had trends, but its definition lacked a unified critical consensus. It includes the following Authors:
Stephen Crane,
Jack London,
Theodore Dreiser,
Frank Norris,
William Dean Howells,
Henry James,
They were clearly on the realist or naturalist side.
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