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Naturalism's Children: Unruly Naturalism in Works by Darcy Steinke, Joyce Carol Oates, and Lynda Barry

Naturalism's Children: Unruly Naturalism in Works by Darcy Steinke, Joyce Carol Oates, and Lynda... Naturalism’s Children Unruly Naturalism in Works by Darcy Steinke, Joyce Carol Oates, and Lynda Barry , University of Tennessee For a variety of reasons, much studied by American literary scholars, a handful of writers emerged at the turn of the 20th century, and their works have come to define classical American naturalism, so much so that Eric Carl Link can definitively state, “[s]pecifically, the American literary naturalists are those authors who engage, at the thematic level, postDarwinian reconsiderations of the relationship between humans and nature” (72). That is, in response to “post-enlightenment developments in science and philosophy” (71), American writers—notably Crane, Norris, Dreiser, Chopin, London, and Wharton—invented a new literary mode that reflected new master narratives exploring the ineffable power of biology and environment to form or deform character, the aleatory nature and instability of one’s social conditioning by and positioning in the habitus, the profound consequences of social and economic inequality, and the intense competition to survive and succeed in both the private and public spheres. As June Howard argues in Form and History in American Literary Naturalism, the works we mark as naturalist are products of a particular “historical moment,” not vehicles for the expression of http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Studies in American Naturalism University of Nebraska Press

Naturalism's Children: Unruly Naturalism in Works by Darcy Steinke, Joyce Carol Oates, and Lynda Barry

Papke, Mary E.
Studies in American Naturalism , Volume 11 (2) – Aug 29, 2016
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University of Nebraska Press
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Copyright © University of Nebraska Press
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1944-6519
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Abstract

Naturalism’s Children Unruly Naturalism in Works by Darcy Steinke, Joyce Carol Oates, and Lynda Barry , University of Tennessee For a variety of reasons, much studied by American literary scholars, a handful of writers emerged at the turn of the 20th century, and their works have come to define classical American naturalism, so much so that Eric Carl Link can definitively state, “[s]pecifically, the American literary naturalists are those authors who engage, at the thematic level, postDarwinian reconsiderations of the relationship between humans and nature” (72). That is, in response to “post-enlightenment developments in science and philosophy” (71), American writers—notably Crane, Norris, Dreiser, Chopin, London, and Wharton—invented a new literary mode that reflected new master narratives exploring the ineffable power of biology and environment to form or deform character, the aleatory nature and instability of one’s social conditioning by and positioning in the habitus, the profound consequences of social and economic inequality, and the intense competition to survive and succeed in both the private and public spheres. As June Howard argues in Form and History in American Literary Naturalism, the works we mark as naturalist are products of a particular “historical moment,” not vehicles for the expression of

Journal

Studies in American Naturalism – University of Nebraska Press

Published: Aug 29, 2016

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