Authors and Works

Abstract

Featured in the Video: Edith Wharton, " Souls Belated " (short story) Anzia Yezierska, " The Lost 'Beautifulness' " (short story) The Palace-Burner, " " A Pique at Parting, " " Army of Occupation " (poetry) Henry James, " Daisy Miller: A Study, " " The Real Thing, " " The Beast in the Jungle, " " The Jolly Corner " (short stories); " The Art of Fiction " (literary criticism) Booker T. Washington, excerpts from Up from Slavery (autobiography) Abraham Cahan, " A Sweat-Shop Romance " (short story) Sui Sin Far (Edith Maud Eaton), " Mrs. Spring Fragrance " (short story) W. E. B. Du Bois, excerpts from The Souls of Black Folk (social and political criticism, music history) Theodore Dreiser, " Old Rogaum and His Theresa " (short story) Henry Adams, excerpts from The Education of Henry Adams (autobiography) Overview Questions I What different ethnic groups inhabited America's urban areas around the turn of the cen-tury? How did their traditions and cultural values change American culture? I How do social realist texts represent gender? What kinds of issues inform social realist writing by women? I How did Booker T. Washington and Henry Adams transform the genre of the autobiography? How did their work change ideas about American identity? I How do social realist writings reflect the distinct cultures and political concerns of different ethnic groups? I What kinds of class structures divided American society at the turn of the century? Which classes of people are depicted in realist texts? I What political and social transformations in turn-of-the-century America led to the development of social realism? What kinds of political effects and reforms did social realist writers hope to produce? I How did industrialism change the demo-graphics of urban and rural society in America? I How did immigrant culture shape life in lower-class cityscapes such as the Lower East Side of Manhattan? I How did social realist writers depict the contrasts between American and European customs and values? Why were so many social realists interested in this question? I How do realist writers describe the material conditions and physical surfaces of the world in which their fictional characters live? Why has their descriptive style sometimes been described as " documentary " ? I What is " limited third-person narrative " ? I How did the " gospel of wealth " build on and transform ideas about opportunity in America? …