Discuss the Attraction of the Naturalist Philosophy to American Writers of the Late Nineteenth Century and...

Discuss the attraction of the naturalist philosophy to American writers of the new-fangled nineteenth century and early twentieth century literary pragmatism originated in France in the late 1870s. American writers were inspired by the work of French writer, Emile Zola, and adopted the genre as their own. American naturalism reached its peak at the end of the nineteenth century, with writers such(prenominal) as Frank Norris and Stephen extend embodying the naturalist philosophy. Naturalist writers were influenced by Charles Darwins evolution theory, and believed that a persons genetic endowment and kind environment determined that persons character. Emile Zola verbalize that heredity was the key to modern life (cited in Backgrounds of American Literary Thought, 258). Zola believed that humans were fundamentally animals, with no innocent will. This is echoed throughout naturalists fiction, as illustrated by Paul Reuben in his online paper American existence A Brief In troduction, characters do non have free will; external and internal forces, environment, or heredity accommodate their behaviour (Reuben, 2009). This is evident in Norris and Cranes works, among other, wherein we unwrap about a young spend experiencing military divine service and a small-town dentist pushed to extremes by his arrogant wife.

Frank Norriss McTeague tells the story of a San Francisco dentist and his wife, whom he eventually murders. In the introduction to the book Jerome Loving put forwards that for Norris, it appears, heredity and environment were barriers brinyly for the short(p) (Loving, xx vi). Lower social classes were the main focu! s for naturalist writers, as Donna Campbell explains in her online essay Naturalism in America books, characters [are] frequently but not invariably ill-educated or cut back class characters whose lives are governed by the forces of heredity, instinct and passion (Campbell, 2008). This seems to suggest that the incidents that occur, such as McTeague murdering his wife,...If you take to get a expert essay, order it on our website: OrderCustomPaper.com

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