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The English Controversy over Realism in Fiction 1885-1895

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 February 2021

William C. Frierson
William C. Frierson*
Affiliation:
Ohio State University
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Extract

It is well known that a heated controversy took place during the eighteen-nineties over the inclusion of fact, brutal fact, in fiction. It is likewise well known that the controversy ended with a partial victory for the “New Realists.” The chief literary historians of the period—W. G. Blaikie-Murdock, Holbrook Jackson, Harold Williams, and Oscar Burdett—agree in dating the change during the early years of the decade. Of these writers, however, Holbrook Jackson alone has indicated—and then only in romantic generalizations—the turbulent clash of ideas which accompanied the transition. In Emile Zola, Novelist and Reformer 1904, Ernest Vizetelly describes with strong partisan feeling the outcry against his father's published translations of Zola's works. But Vizetelly takes us no further than the year 1889, when his father was imprisoned, and he does not deal with the subsequent reaction in England toward tolerance and even sympathy. Accordingly, Vizetelly's account fails to give an adequate appreciation of the important results which followed the controversy over realism, in fixing the chief line of development which English fiction was to take for at least thirty-five years.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 43 , Issue 2 , June 1928 , pp. 533 - 550
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1928

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References

1 The Renaissance of the Nineties, 1911.

2 The Eighteen-Ninetiès, 1913.

3 Modern English Writers, 1918.

4 The Beardsley Period, 1925.

5 The New Naturalism, Fortnightly Review, August 1, 1885.

6 Locksley Hall, Sixty Years After, 1886.

7 Realism and Decadence in French Fiction, Quarterly Review, July, 1890.

8 The French Decadence, Quarterly Review, April, 1892.

9 Some Recent French Novels, Blackwoods, July, 1891.

10 English critics used the words “French realist” and “naturalist” interchangeably. Balzac was sometimes linked with Zola in their comments,

11 Realism and Romance, Contemporary Review, Nov., 1887.

12 Emile Zola, Fortnightly Renew, January, 1889.

13 The Old Saloon, Blackwoods, September, 1888.

14 Realism and Decadence in French Fiction, Quarterly Review, July, 189.

15 The French Decadence, Quarterly Review, April, 1892.

16 The Modem French Novel, Quarterly Review, April, 1890.

17 Society, April 21, 1888.

18 Quoted in Pernicious Literature, Debate in the House of Commons, Trial and Conviction for the Sale of Zola's Novels, with Opinions of the Press. (National Vigilance Assn.) 1889, p. 6.

19 Emile Zola, Novelist and Reformer. Chapter IX.

20 Emile Zola, Novelist and Reformer, p. 291.

21 The Artificiality of the Novel, Eclectic, May, 1890.

22 In the discursive first chapter of Diana of the Crossways, 1885, Meredith, in defending realism, referred to the skeleton anatomy of fact, which, he said, is necessary in fiction. “Instead of objurgating the timid intrusions of philosophy, invoke her presence, I pray you. History without her is the skeleton-map of events; fiction a picture of figures modeled on no skeleton-anatomy.”

23 English Realism and Romance, Quarterly Review, October, 1891.

24 Contemporary Review, Feb., 1893.

25 Reticence in Literature, The Yellow Book, July, 1894.

26 Referring to Zola's visit. to England commencing Sept. 20, 1893, in response to an invitation of the Institute of Journalists. The Institute of Journalists had invited the officials of various foreign organizations, and Zola's invitation was addressed to him as President de la Société des Cens de Lettres.

27 Reply to Waugh, The Yellow Book, Oct. 1894. The quotation from Edmund Gosse is taken from “Limits of Realism in Fiction,” one of the essays included in Questions at Issue, 1893.

28 Books and Persons, 1917, p. 6.

29 Zola's Philosophy of Life. Fortnightly Review, Aug. 1, 1896.

30 Edmond de Goncourt, Fortnightly Review, Sept 1, 1896.

31 See also L'Influence du naturalisme francais sur le roman anglais by William C. Frierson, Paris, 1925.

32 Notes on Novelists, p. 132.