American Naturalism

Literary naturalism applies a scientific method to fiction. Because naturalism believes that our lives (and the lives of the fictional characters which populate its novels) are controlled by natural forces, the movement is often described as pessimistic. There is no role in naturalism for human participation in events, no self-determination. The most important writer and theorist of the early naturalist movement is Emile Zola.

Naturalism in literature applies the scientific method to the novel. Emile Zola begins chapter one of his 1893 book The Experimental Novel and Other Essays by asking whether it is possible to use the novel as a vehicle for experimentation. For a long time, the novel had been used for observation only. It was a medium for studying characters, their interactions, their motivations, and certain events and dilemmas which they encountered. But what about using the novel to study the effects of certain conditions on the characters affected by them? Zola draws a clear distinction between observation and experimentation in this way:

‘…astronomy is a science of observation because you cannot conceive of an astronomer acting upon the stars; while chemistry is an experimental science, as the chemist acts upon nature and modifies it’. (p. 1)

An experiment is ‘provoked observation’ (p. 1). Zola explains that the novelist plays both roles: observer and experimentalist.

The experimental novel, Zola says, is ‘the report of the experiment that the novelist conducts before the eyes of the public’. (p. 9)

Naturalism in American literature

The main source of influence in American naturalism is the writer Frank Norris. Unlike Zola’s idea of naturalism, Norris thought that naturalism was, to some extent, a Romantic approach. According to Norris, a short story by Stephen Crane, another proponent of American naturalism in the same vein as Norris, defined the movement. The story was published in 1897 and tells the autobiographical story of Crane’s shipwreck on the way from Florida to Cuba. It was called 'The Open Boat'.

After running into a sandbank, the boat Crane was travelling on, the SS Commodore, sank, leaving Crane and three others lost at sea in a small boat for around thirty hours. As this example demonstrates, one of the hallmarks of the naturalist novel is the portrayal of ‘man against nature’. As a seminal naturalistic text, the story is told in a detached, objective manner that studies a person in a predicament. It is a novel which conforms to the definition of naturalism provided above by Zola. The person at the centre of the story, who is also the narrator, begins with the view that they (the people on the boat) are at odds with God and nature, in particular, the hostile sea. They come to view nature as ambivalent, which means it doesn't care one way or the other.

There are a number of other traits of the American naturalist novel, including the types of characters used and the themes developed among American naturalist novelists.

Characters

American naturalists tended to populate their novels with ordinary people, often drawn from working-class backgrounds and with limited education. This made it possible to imagine their characters without the privileges attached to higher social statuses, such as education, wealth, and a network of contacts. These are all means by which people might overcome life’s obstacles. The poorly or un-educated person, and the person from a lowly social background, is a better case study for the naturalist: they are at the mercy of forces beyond their control.

Setting

The choice of setting is also considered to be an indicator of American naturalism: the preferred setting was urban, possibly because such a setting brought people into contact with each other in a wider variety of ways. However, some American naturalist novels are set in nature, as we saw with 'The Open Boat'.

Themes

There is a range of themes associated with American naturalist fiction. These include survival and violence, as well as determinism. The individual character is set within a fictional world in which they are tested. Often, the test is about the effort to survive:

The other forces at work in the naturalistic novel are nature, heredity, an ‘indifferent universe’, and the illusion of free will (Donna Campbell, as above).

American Naturalism: books

American naturalism covers a time period from the mid-nineteenth century to the latter half of the twentieth century. The focus of this article is on the period between 1865 and 1900. During this time, the prominent naturalistic writers in America were Joseph Kirkland, Rebecca Harding Davis, Frank Norris, Jack London, and Stephen Crane.

Of these writers, Frank Norris, Jack London and Stephen Crane are the best known examples of American naturalism.

Frank Norris

Norris (1870-1902) wrote a number of well-known novels in the naturalist tradition. These included The Octopus: A Story of California (1901) and The Pit (1903). Although he was a reputable novelist during the period, his work is marred by the fact that he advanced racist views, specifically anti-Semitism.

Jack London

Jack London was a pseudonym. His real name was John Chaney (1876-1916). Jack London became internationally renowned and part of a literary circle known as The Crowd. He lived in San Francisco and was an avowed socialist with concern for workers’ and animal rights. Although his popularity stemmed largely from his science fiction writing at the time, he is best known for his books about the American wilderness: The Call of the Wild (1903) and White Fang (1906).

Stephen Crane

Crane (1871-1900) was a poet and novelist in the American naturalist tradition. His writing style has been described as impressionist. He wrote about themes like crisis, war, death, and identity. Apart from his famous short story 'The Open Boat', which we discussed earlier, Crane is known for his novels Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (1893) and The Red Badge of Courage (1895). Crane died young, at the age of 28.