Realism is one of the basic creative methods of literature and art. Its actual application date is quite early, but it was not mentioned as a name until the 1850s by the French painter Courbet and the writer Schavrery. Come out, Engels's definition of "realism" is: in addition to the reality of details, it must also truly reproduce typical characters in typical environments. (Letter to Martha Harkness in early April 1888)
In literary and artistic creation, realism is two major trends of thought that go hand in hand with romanticism. It focuses on facts or reality; it is not subject to idealism and conjecture. Or the objective process influenced by sentimentalism; to deal with thoughts and actions objectively and not emotionally, and to oppose all unrealistic or utopian characters.
Stendahl's "The Red and the Black" is the first outstanding social psychological novel of French realism. He is good at expressing the characters' inner conflicts and instantaneous changes in thoughts and feelings to highlight the characters' individual characteristics. Tolstoy pushed this realistic psychological description to its peak, pioneering realism by profoundly revealing the "dialectics of the soul" of various characters and "describing the psychological process itself, the shape and laws of this process" new world. Dostoevsky used amazing artistic power to depict the complex inner world of people who were insulted and damaged, and profoundly analyzed the pathological psychology and dual personality that were poisoned and distorted by the aristocratic bourgeois society. He declared that "true realism" is "narrating the inner state of man with profound insight and astonishing accuracy." This kind of psychological description that explores people's complex inner world in depth constitutes one of the characteristics of realism in art. Another artistic feature of realism is the full use of satire to enhance the power of critical exposure. Dickens, Thackeray, Maupassant, Gogol, Shchedrin, Chekhov, etc. are all masters of satirical art. They are not only good at exposing the ugly essence of the landlords, bureaucrats and bourgeoisie from their daily lives, but also make full use of fiction, exaggeration, contrast and even grotesque satirical art techniques to laugh at the absurdity and despicability of this "dark kingdom".
On the basis of a systematic summary of the development process of Russian literature and world literature, Belinsky, the founder of Russian realist literature and art theory, further demonstrated that "realistic poetry" (i.e., realist literature and art) and "ideal" "Poetry" (that is, romantic literature and art). He pointed out that in ideal poetry, "the poet transforms life according to his own ideals"; in realistic poetry, the poet "reproduces reality according to the full authenticity and naked appearance of life." He affirmed that realism "is more in line with the spirit and needs of our times" and for the first time linked the creative principles of realism with the "naturalism" represented by Gogol that formed in Russian literature in the 1840s. In the 1950s, Chernyshevsky put forward the famous materialist assertion that "beauty is life", and on this basis he affirmed that the purpose and function of art is to "reproduce reality", "explain life", and "explain life" Judgment" further laid and developed the theoretical foundation of realist literature and art. However, neither Belinsky nor Chernyshevsky used the term "realism" yet. Dobrolyubov's contribution lies in the creation of the principle of "realistic criticism", which affirms that "the main value of a work of art lies in its real life" and uses this as "a criterion for assessing the value and significance of every literary phenomenon." He used the term "realism" when commenting on the poetry of Pushkin and Nikitin, but its meaning refers more to the writer's realistic attitude towards life (the so-called "realism of life") rather than the representation of life. creative principles and methods. In his article "Notes on Russian Literature", the Russian critic Annankov used the term "realism" for the first time to summarize the basic characteristics of the creations of Turgenev, Goncharov and other writers. However, this term was not used until In the 1860s, it was not generally accepted by Russian literary criticism.
The term "realism" became popular in the European literary and artistic circles and formed a literary and artistic genre named after it. This happened in France in the 1850s. Around 1850, French painter Courbet and novelist Jean-Fleury first used the term "realism" to describe the new literature and art at that time, and Duranti and others founded a new style of art called "realism". "Publication (1856~1857, 6 issues published). The publication published Courbet's literary manifesto, advocating that writers should "study reality", truthfully describe the daily lives of ordinary people, and "not beautify reality." This group of writers clearly proposed using the new "mark" of realism to replace the old "mark" of romanticism, regarded Diderot, Standal, and Balzac as models of creation, and advocated that "the task of realism is to create creations for the people." "Literature" and believes that the basic form of literature is "modern style novels". From then on, there was the officially named school of "realism" in literature and art.