What is Realism? (Modernism 2)

Realism as a mode of artistic expression is often associated with 20th century modernism but actually began before the 19th century was over. Learn about the philosophy that underlay the movement characterized by precise, observable details and lack of Romanticism.

This is video 2 in my series on Modernism. Featured in this video: Dickens, Tolstoy, Rosa Bonheur, Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, Gustave Courbet, Grant Wood's "American Gothic," Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, Odets' Waiting for Lefty, Sinclair Lewis' Main Street, Dreiser's An American Tragedy, Richard Wright, Claude McKay's "If We Must Die," King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, The Bicycle Thief, and Look Back in Anger.

[zacharyschram]

Thank you for the video, I am currently writing an essay about Dostoyevsky and his relation to modernism. I'm doing this with the capstone book being Crime and Punishment, and I understand that Dostoyevsky is largely considered a realist but I personally see him as more of a modernist. Yes, traditionalism is the antithesis of modernism and Crime and Punishment essentially argues the merits of traditional redemption but in the same light the new thought movement in Russia had become prevalent in positions of power. Is not modernism largely working to critique systems of power, and if so, is not Dostoyevski a foundational figure in how we conceptualize modernist writing? I know he was a large influence for many modernist writers, such as Elliot. If I am going down the wrong road, let me know, but the essential thesis of my essay is that Crime and Punishment is better read as a modernist work than a realist work to fully understand the critiques that Dostoyevsky offers in the novel. Thank you!

[rhyscooper]

Your definition of bourgeois is wrong. Petit bourgeois, maybe