Literary Movement Reading Challenge 2015 – August: Naturalism (1870 – 1920)

This literary movement found expression almost exclusively within the novel. Naturalism sought to go further and be more explanatory than Realism by identifying the underlying causes for a person’s actions or beliefs. The thinking was that certain factors, such as heredity and social conditions, were unavoidable determinants in one’s life. The environment, especially the social environment, played a large part in how the narrative developed. The dominant theme of Naturalist literature is that persons are fated to whatever station in life their heredity, environment, and social conditions prepare them for. The power of primitive emotions to negate human reason was also a recurring element. The Naturalist simply takes the world as it is, for good or ill. [Source]

Some of the Naturalist authors:

(you may pick other authors outside this list)

Émile Zola

Edith Wharton

Frank Norris

Jack London

Stephen Crane

You can submit your review posts on Naturalism books in the linky below (linky will be opened on August 15^th, 2015)