Zola & Flaubert (aesth & natural)

Naturalism and aestheticism are two literary movements/styles that are not so far removed from one another as one might initially think. Naturalism was a reaction to the subjective and imaginative escapism of the romanticists, a school of writing and writers who were influenced by the ideologies of Darwin's biology and the social and economic determinism of Taine and Marx. Instead of the subjective and imaginative portrayals of the romanticists, naturalists tried to objectively and truthfully portray human beings and their social interactions, much like the objective search for the truth used in scientific method. While Gustave Flaubert is considered an aesthetic, his style is also considered a precursor to naturalism, a style in which the authors sought to portray people and society with the objectivity and truth of scientific inquiry, warts and flaws included:

In technique, their work was marked by an objective, detached method of narration, meticulous accuracy of detail, and scholarly care in the documentation of historical background. Its subjects were drawn from the lower strata of society, and no detail of their sordid unhappy lives was spared. Emphasis was placed on the social environment of the characters and on the totally subordinate relation of the individual human being to it. In the naturalistic novel, there is a pervading sense of the control exerted over the actions and destinies of the charact

Related Essays

Paris and Vienna as Cultural Centers .... school of literature at the time was known as "realism" or "naturalism." The naturalist writers included Gustave Flaubert, Guy de Maupassant, and Emile Zola. .... (10416 42 )

Romanticism, Realism & Naturalism .... Zola created imaginary and difficult situations for his characters. .... Gustave Flaubert also was associated with the literature of the Naturalism era in France. .... (1408 6 )

French Intellectual & Literary History .... Zola created imaginary and difficult situations for his characters. .... Gustave Flaubert also was associated with the literature of the Naturalism era in France. .... (1408 6 )

Native Son .... One sees allusions to and revisions of the works of Dostoevsky, Stowe, Flaubert, Zola, Poe, James, Hawthorne, Dreiser, and, despite Wright's disclaimers about .... (10529 42 )

Cultural Traditions of France This essay analyzes .... time. The nineteenth century saw the great age of the French novel, with Balzac and Stendhal, and later Flaubert and Zola. In the .... (1019 4 )

acle, had at last decided to provoke it. These heads, emptied by famine, saw everything red, and dreamed of fire and blood in the midst of a glorious apotheosis from which would arise universal happiness. And the tranquil moon bathed this sea, the deep forest encircled with its vast silence this cry of massacre. The frozen moss crackled beneath the heels of the crowd, while the beeches, erect in their strength, with the delicate tracery of their black branches against the white sky, neither saw nor heard the miserable beings who writhed at their feet. (Zola 269) WOMEN IN GERMINAL The portrayal of women in Germinal amply demonstrates the second-class status of women in this society and the victimization of them by the men who are victimized by capitalistic oppression. Mahue basically sees Catherine as a servant and abused her for being lazy if she rises a few minutes early. In this area of France the men have adopted the custom of calling women by the feminine La with the feminine ending of their husband's or father's last names. Thus, the wife of Maheu is La Maheude and the daughter of Old Mouque is La Mouquette. This would be like calling the wife of Mr. Smith in American society, The Smithess. While Catherine is th

Category: Literature - Z