A Simple Heart

The 19th century witnessed a profound shift in literary aesthetics as writers moved away from idealized and romanticized portrayals of life toward what they took to be a more accurate representation of reality. This movement, known as literary Realism, sought to capture the complexities of human existence with a focus on everyday life, social structures, and the nuances of individual experience. French writers were at the forefront of this literary revolution, with Gustave Flaubert emerging as a central figure.

Literary Realism emerged in the mid-19th century as a reaction against Romanticism’s emphasis on emotion, imagination, and a fantastical view of life, which dominated the literary scene. Growing dissatisfaction with these idealized portrayals of reality led writers to seek a more authentic representation of the human experience. Realist literature aimed to depict life as it was, rejecting the supernatural, the heroic, and the ostentatiously dramatic, focusing instead on the more mundane aspects of human existence.

Gustave Flaubert emerged as a leading figure in this movement, his dedication to precision and detail setting new standards for the craft. Flaubert’s early life and education exposed him to the social realities and cultural dynamics of 19th-century France. These experiences, coupled with his dissatisfaction with the prevailing literary trends, laid the foundation for his pioneering contributions to literary Realism. Flaubert’s magnum opus, Madame Bovary (1857), is often considered the epitome of Realist literature.

While Flaubert was a prominent figure, he was not the sole contributor to the Realist movement in France. Often considered a precursor to Flaubert’s work, Honoré de Balzac’s extensive series of novels, collectively known as La Comédie humaine, offered a panoramic view of French society. His attention to social structures, character development, and keen observation of human behavior contributed significantly to the Realist aesthetic. In the late 19th century, building on the foundations laid by Flaubert and Balzac, Émile Zola brought a scientific approach to realism that would become known as naturalism. Les Rougon-Macquart, Zola’s cycle of novels, explored how heredity and environment influenced human behavior across generations. A protégé of Flaubert, Guy de Maupassant wrote short stories such as The Necklace and Boule de Suif that exemplify Realist storytelling. Writers like Stendhal, the author of The Red and the Black, and George Sand, known for her rural novels, also contributed to the movement.

Realist literature was marked by a number of key interests and themes that distinguished it from what came before. Realist literature delved into the social fabric of the time, addressing issues such as class disparities, economic struggles, and the impact of societal norms on individuals. Writers portrayed the daily lives of ordinary people—the middle or even working classes, like Félicité—shedding light on the challenges they faced. Realism also delved more extensively into the inner lives of characters. Authors explored the psychology of their creations, including their motivations, desires, and the complexities of human thought. Realist writers often critiqued the institutions of their time, including religious, government, and legal systems. The emphasis on psychological realism, the examination of societal structures, and the nuanced portrayal of characters became integral to the works of 20th-century writers such as Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, and Marcel Proust, and the legacy of literary realism endures in contemporary literature.