The Portable American Realism Reader

by James Nagel (Editor), Tom Quirk (Editor)

During the pivotal period of America's international emergence, between the Civil War and WWI, the aligned literary movements of Realism and Naturalism not only shaped the national literature of the age, but also left an indelible and far-reaching influence on twentieth-century American and world literature.

Seeking to strip narrative from pious sentimentalities, and, according to William Dean Howells, to "(paint) life as it is, and human feelings in their true proportion and relation", Realism is best represented by this volume's masterly pieces by Mark Twain ("Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog"), Henry James ("The Beast in the Jungle"), Stephen Crane ("The Blue Hotel"), Kate Chopin ("Desiree's Baby"), and Sarah Orne Jewett ("A White Heron") among others. The joining of Realist methods with the theories of Marx, Darwin, and Spencer to reveal the larger forces (biological, evolutionary, historical) which move humankind, are exemplified here in the fiction of such writers as Jack London, Frank Norris, and Theodore Dreiser.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Adult, Classics, College, American

591 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1997

Reviews

[Natasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found these short stories fascinating. It was a joke in our class that a story is not realism if the main character doesn’t die in the end. But for real.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a collection of short stories written between 1865 and 1918 that fall roughly into the school of American Realism (the book is divided into sections: Regionalism and Local Color, Realism, and Naturalism). Intended for college students, the reader offers up classic stories by usual suspects (Twain, Harte, Dreiser, London, Crane) but also tales by forgotten and neglected authors, many of them people of color and women, and these are some of the best in the book. Some favorites: "Belles Demoiselles Plantation" by G.W. Cable, "Rodman the Keeper" by Constance Fenimore Woolson, "Miss Tempy's Watchers" by Sarah Oren Jewett, and "The Sheriff's Children" by Charles W. Chesnutt. The book also contains one of my most challenging reads in a long time, Henry James' "The Beast in the Jungle." Talk about an ornate, convoluted prose style. This one took me forever and a ton of work to get through, and I'm not even sure it was worth it in the end, but there was no way I was gonna give up.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my new favorite book to travel with. Read through several stories over the weekend trip to Minneapolis and found them all interesting for different reasons. I really enjoyed Kate Chopin's "Athenaise."

[Nicole · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had to read the first part of for a class at uni. Since I don't attend this class anymore, I will probably never finish it. I didn't like the stories. I guess American Realism and Naturalism isn't for me.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent collection. Just not exactly my favorite type of literature.

[Hilary Scharper · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a truly excellent collection of stories. The introductions are well written and informative—and the writing that is represented in the period covered is breath-taking! Here are the short stories of some of America's best writers—and the stories themselves are still inspiring for both their subject matter and writing.

[Jukka]

The Portable American Realism Reader - Tom Quirk

(Book Club - November)

We're reading Part 2 "Realism".

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

Only read a few of the stories in here for school projects. Maybe one day I will go back and read the rest.