...Theatrical Realism Theatrical Realism is the attempt of playwrights to mirror reality on the stage. That is to say, these playwrights intend for the audience to see themselves on the stage without fanfare – a stripped-down form of theatrical arts. Realistic theatre does not possess the magical elements of theatre that preceded it, but this is the strength of realism. Anton Chekhov echoes this point, “I wanted to tell people honestly: ‘Look at yourselves. See how badly you live and how tiresome you are.’ The main thing is that people should understand this. When they do, they will surely create a new and better life for themselves”. Realistic playwrights stood on the shoulders of the giants of theatre who preceded them by continuing to look at their times and people, but shattered new earth by asking audiences to look in to themselves. Realism is theatre in which people move and talk in a similar manner to that of our everyday behavior. The style has been dominant for the last 120 years. It holds the idea of the stage as an environment, and not just an acting platform. Some of the ideas flourishing in realism’s formative years were Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species and Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto. Both of these works profoundly impacted the intelligentsia. They called into question the foundations on which the people of the world had built their truths. Marx, especially, can be seen as an important figure of the realistic movement as he sought to awaken the working...
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...Running Head: ROMANTICISM AND REALISM Romanticism and Realism Western Governor’s University RWT Task 1 February 17, 2013 Romanticism and Realism 1. Romanticism was a period starting as early as the 1760s seen not only in the world of art but also in the literary and musical worlds as well. The movement originated during the French Revolution as a contention to the Enlightenment period that centered on science and logic. The movement ranged from widespread Europe to the United States. During this period of time the Industrial Revolution was beginning and people lived in uprising cities with deplorable conditions of terrible sanitation and poor health. Focusing on Romanticism in the realm of art, the initial paintings consisted of landscapes. The need for open space was a reaction to the closeness of people living together in the city. It was very common to find turmoil and storms taking over the canvas. A great summary of the origins Romanticism can be quoted from The Metropolitan Museum of Art as “In Romantic art, nature—with it’s uncontrollable power, unpredictability, and potential for cataclysmic extremes— offered an alternative to the ordered world of Enlightenment thought.” (Galitz, 2000) Artists of this time period would paint pictures that caused the viewers to feel emotion. There were no distinguished characteristics of how a painting was created. Creations during the art period were original from the artists themselves and had no set technical rules...
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...I-Introduction: The term "realism" was first used to formulate the philosophical doctrine that "universals exist outside of the mind" (Freyberg-Inan, 1). Yet, in political theory, "realism" represents a school of thought that analyzes the political process as it is or as it is disclosed by historical forces " ... that the able political practitioner takes into account ... and incorporates ... into his political conceptions and his political acts "(Ibid, 1-2). In the field of international relations, realism became the dominant analytical paradigm mostly after the start of the Second World War, when it displaced idealist doctrines, promising "to provide more accurate information, more powerful, and more relevant answers" to the roots or causes of peace and war (Brecher& Harvey, 54). At the same time, many features of the current realist paradigm can be traced back to the time of Thucydides, Niccolo Machiavelli and Thomas Hobbes. Among contemporary thinkers recognized as major writers and contributors to the realist tradition are Hans Morgenthau, Edward Carr and Kenneth Waltz (Freyberg-Inan, 8). What are then the basic tenets or common features of a realist thinker? Machiavelli would acknowledge that to be a realist one has to look at history as "a sequence of cause and effect whose course can be analysed and understood by intellectual effort, but not directed by imagination" (Carr, 64). Hobbes would persist in the same train of thought and insist that to be a realist thinker...
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...Magical Realism Granville Scott Nelson Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Abstract Magical realism is a Latin American genre in which the author takes an ordinary storyline and inserts an unnatural character or sense of being. This paper will show the difference between magical realism and fantasy or science fiction. Magical Realism From my reading I now understand that magical realism is adding an unrealistic feature or character to an otherwise ordinary story. Magic realism is a term used to describe a mingling of the mundane with the fantastic. “Magical realism is not speculative and does not conduct thought experiments. Instead, it tells its stories from the perspective of people who live in our world and experience a different reality from the one we call objective.” (Rogers, 2002) If an author is telling a familiar story and he adds a twist such as a winged horse or an individual who has been alive for two hundred years, that is an example of magical realism. The difference in magical realism and fantasy is that the story is very natural and true with a surreal object and fantasy is just that, fantasy. The term is best described by Baker in her 1997 writing: While realism itself is a chronically unstable term, realist writing is usually understood to be that which draws on a set of narrative conventions designed to create the illusion that the story on the page is real or true and corresponds in some direct way to the ordinary world of day-to-day life...
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...I believe The Death of Ivan Llyich best illustrates realism in literature. Realism goes towards depictions of contemporary life and society "as they were." The story makes reality as real as possible and in comprehensive detail. One aspect of realism is that the character is more important than action and plot where complex choices are often the subject. Ivan Llyich is most definitely the most important person in the entire story, without him, the story would not be a story. Another aspect of realism is that the characters in the story appear in their real temperament and motive. Throughout the story, we are able to see Ivan’s real personality and how he thinks in life. He is more or less a grumpy old man who is very materialistic. The characters in realism tend to be in relation to each other, to their social class, or to their own past. All of these are true for The Death of Ivan Llyich. We are able to see how Ivan acts with other people, especially his family and how his past has not been a good one, which he realizes before his death. Also, in realism, class is an important thing. Ivan was very materialistic and cared a lot for his money. Being a judge, he was obviously well off and could be as materialistic as he wanted. A major aspect of realism was that authors kept their personalities and voices in the background. This is also true in The Death of Ivan Llyich. The Death of Ivan Llyich is by far the best example of a literary...
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...Mearsheimer, the founder of offensive realism would agree with this argument, suggesting that states should not place themselves in high risk situations that could possibly hurt the order of the world system. A realist would argue that urging Australia and New Zealand to give up their sovereign lands to refugees is completely implausible, especially since the two states are not involved in any crimes against their own citizens. Since the two Oceanic states are far stronger than Kiribati, it would be entirely unwise to side with the latter. In the case of the CAR, a realist would again hesitate to intervene due to the complexity of the situation and its low chance of being resolved. Intervening into the affairs of a sovereign state has remained controversial as seen in Somalia, Kosovo...
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...Realism is a 20th century art movement which took a diverse approach to representing the figure, yet has being ongoing from around the 18th century. It depicted what was happening in a contemporary way, an attempt to define what was real with no bias or personal preference from the artist. Only portraying what they saw. The movement originated in france in the 1850’s after the 1848 revolution. These Realists positioned themselves against Romanticism, a genre dominating French literature and artwork in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Seeking to be undistorted by personal bias, Realism believed in the ideology of objective reality and revolted against the exaggerated emotionalism of the Romantic movement. Truth and accuracy became the goals of many Realists. Many paintings depicted people at work, underscoring the changes wrought by the Industrial and Commercial Revolutions. The popularity of such 'realistic' works grew with the introduction of photography, a new visual source that created a desire for people to produce representations which look “objectively real.” Thereafter this new approach to representing the figure grew and new forms such as American realism and social realism where introduced to the art world. Therefore in view of this i will be looking at the American realist Edward Hopper and the realist painter Lucian Freud. Both these artists where at the forefront of modern art and both took different approaches to representing...
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...Suitable Realism Although realist artists attempt to convey a candid image of modern life, their tendencies to render a more relatable and aesthetically pleasing result exceeds their objective realities. In both Huysmans’ Against Nature and James’ The Real Thing, the protagonists seek a more evocative reality; one that transcends the boundaries of the objective and replaces the idea of what is natural with the more arousing powers of imagination. In James’ short story, using the real thing, defined by the true nature of Major and Mrs. Monarch, becomes irrelevant to his depiction as the figures rendered by the artist appear as uninhabited forms and in no way suggest the reality of their social stature. Instead, what in person appears artificial and inauthentic, two separate beings insignificant to the social realities of superiority in the eighteenth-century, embrace the dignified postures and mannerisms of high society to a higher degree than the Monarchs who in fact are the real thing. In Against Nature, Huysmans’ Des Esseintes escapes 19th century bourgeoisie society in a manufactured sanctuary, void of anything real or absolute. What is real outside of his retreat has no value, but his own reverie, contrived and artificial, creates a deeper and more emotional beauty. The characters of Charles Dickens, the women of Gustave Moreau, the artificial flowers, “fashioned by the hands of true artists,” encapsulate the essence of his imaginary reality. Transcending into Realist art...
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...The True Essence of Magical Realism Amy Beals (14963137) ITT Technical Institute The True Essence of Magical Realism What comes to mind when you hear the word magic or magical? The average person typically thinks of witchcraft, spells, voodoo, and even disappearing bunny rabbits. The word realism, in the everyday use, is a word we are very familiar with. Join magical and realism together and they take on a whole new meaning. The marriage of these two words transforms their very individual definitions into one unique meaning. Magical realism has since developed into a literary genre; it represents more than just a definition. Magical realism has, in essence, become a philosophy, a real way of seeing things. It also represents much more than an attitude, or a window to view the world; it has become a philosophy of life. The very wording itself is an oxymoron (Rodgers, 2002). According to many critics, Magical Realism was thought to have originated, as a new art form, in the early twentieth century. Having been given credit for coining the term, Franz Roh, writes about this new art form in one of his articles. The 1925 article “Magical Realism,” Mr. Roh explains Magical Realism through the examination of artistic styles. He further explained that an artist may review the texture, the light, and the shape of an object to influence the portrayal of what is simply a caricature of reality; there isn’t any significant meaning other than the obvious real qualities of what is being...
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...What is Magic Realism? * Magical elements blend with the real world. * Taps into emotional reservoirs within all of us * Developed as an art movement in the years after World War I * A type of realism using contemporary subjects, often in cool detachment and sometimes injecting an eerie atmosphere * Explains these magical elements as real occurrences, presented in a straightforward manner that places the "real" and the "fantastic" in the same stream of thought * Happens when a highly detailed, realistic setting is invaded by something too strange to believe * ubiquitous term to describe various contemporary works, yet a certain ambiguity surrounds it * Aims to seize the paradox of the union of opposites * Differs from pure fantasy primarily because it is set in a normal, modern world with authentic descriptions of humans and society * First introduced by Franz Roh, a German art critic, who considered magical realism an art category. Magic Realism in Literature and Art * A kind of modern fiction in which fabulous and fantastical events are included in a narrative that otherwise maintains the 'reliable' tone of objective realistic report, designating a tendency of the modern novel to reach beyond the confines of realism and draw upon the energies of fable, folk tale, and myth while maintaining a strong contemporary social relevance * When a character in the story continues to be alive beyond the normal length of life and this...
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...Realism refers to the notion that the world`s affairs and politics are driven and control by competitive self-interest. Therefore, in connection with human right perspective a realist person would suggest that the state agents should use force on any person suspected to be a threat to the nation. For example, they recommended that suspect should be interrogated in secret using special facilities such as Guantanamo Bay detainment facility or be terminated on sight. Liberalism refers to the situation where people or countries have the ability to find mutual relationship and interests and can work together to achieve them (COLE, 167). A liberalist perspective on issues of human right is that suspects have a right to fair and free legal processes. The civil right movement were successfully in airing Ahmed Mohamed story. This is the young boy from Irying a Texas high school who wanted to show his teacher a homemade clock he made. He ended up...
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...Reinhold Niebuhr’s Christian Realism has many components to it. Post World War I, he moved away from his usual liberal/pacifist way of thinking after seeing that the war was based on power control and economical concerns, and this was something he did not want to support. He wanted to follow a more proactive way of doing things instead of just waiting for something to happen. Liberal’s pacifist way of thinking utilizing non-intervention ways to deal with evil in the world, could not be used anymore. “He argued that a chief reliance on the power of reason through education and moral suasion was naive and misplaced” (citation I). By doing nothing would allow evil to continue to control everything. Niebuhr also says humans in this world are self-glorifying, sinful in nature, and will never be equal to...
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...Realism in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Churchill’s Top Girls Nineteen-century Europe held rigid conventionalisms of class division, social order and gender roles. Society hid behind the mask of hypocrisy in an attempt to preserve bourgeoisie’s position of power. In that concern, conceptions of ‘liberty of the spirit’[1] and ‘liberty of thought and of the human condition’[2] came to question. Thus, Henrik Ibsen drew attention to the threat to ideas of freedom and public opinion by giving life to A Doll’s House (1879). He aimed to critique constraints of Victorian society rather than vindicating the rights of women. In that sense, in a speech given in his honour by the Norwegian Women’s Rights League on 26 May 1898 he stresses: ‘Whatever I have written has been without any conscious thought of making propaganda. […] To me it has seemed a problem of humanity in general.’[3] Ibsen clearly states he strove to expose the manipulation of individuals’ liberties as he worked for the human cause. In Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls (1982) the aim of the play is to reveal how the fulfilment of women’s self-realization needs in the personal and social spheres is achieved by compromising humanity and morality. In the end, what ‘The New Woman’ gets is disillusionment and loneliness as she finds herself in a predicament: mother or career woman, sensitive or hardened. In Top Girls what is represented is the price women pay to go up the corporate ladder in a male-dominant world. Thus, I will...
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...Magical realism is a serious fiction that conveys the different realities of a person or community in a way that the magical and the ordinary are seamlessly blended in one. There are many elements an author utilizes to create this type of fiction. Magical realist authors aim to write the ordinary as miraculous and uncover a reality of people or communities that are outside of the objective norm. Although magical realism is very similar to other genres of fiction, it has individual characteristics and elements that categorize it separately from fantasy. Authors of magical realism tend to use the literary device of personification to have ordinary objects and settings within their story, take on lives of their own in a way that is seen as normal to the characters. During the novel, Bless Me Ultima by...
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...Magical realism in Chronicle of a Death Foretold Magical realism is a literary genre in which fantastical things are treated not just as possible, but also realistic. It tries to tell its stories from the perspective of people who live in our world and experience a different reality from the one we call objective. As a tool, magical realism can be used to explore the realities of characters or communities who are outside of the objective mainstream of our culture. It's not just South Americans, Indians, or African slaves who may offer these alternative views. Religious believers for whom the supernatural is always present and miracles are right around the corner, believers to whom angels really do appear and to whom God reveals Himself directly, they too inhabit magical realism in their world. García Márquez developed the style of magical realism, a genre of writing that incorporates magical elements into an otherwise realistic story. Chronicle of a Death Foretold, while not as typical an example of magical realism as García Márquez’s novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, does have some elements of the magical realist style. Chronicle of a Death Foretold is based on the true story of a murder that occurred in Sucre, Colombia, in 1951. The real names of García Márquez’s mother, Luisa Santiaga, his siblings, and his future wife Mercedes Barcha are used in the novel. The narrator, like García Márquez himself, is a journalist who interviews his subjects to gather the facts. Amid...
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