realist fiction
Literature depicting actuality
Realist fiction is narrative literature that aims to represent life as it actually is, without idealization, supernatural elements, or romantic embellishment.
The genre emerged in the nineteenth century as a reaction against romanticism, focusing on ordinary people, everyday events, and social conditions.
Characters behave plausibly, settings are recognizable, and plots follow cause and effect rather than coincidence or fate: Middlemarch is a landmark of realist fiction.
- verisimilitudeAppearance of being factual
- naturalismWorldview excluding the supernatural
- descriptive detailSpecific observable element
- social classSocietal stratification by status
- social mobilityMovement between societal strata
family dynamics · urban landscapes · dialogue · human struggle · inner life · protagonist · third person · quotidian · empiricism · narrative perspective · slice of life · authenticity · industrial revolution · nineteenth century · societal norms · social critique · accuracy · mimesis
realist fictionfantasy
Imaginative mental wandering
science fiction · speculative fiction · high fantasy · supernatural fiction · paranormal fiction
realist fictionsurrealism
Irrational, dreamlike aesthetic
fable · absurdist fiction · allegory · parable · myth
realist fictionnonfiction
Literature about real events
documentary · memoir · biography · journalism · history