whats the difference between naturalism and realism?

Question

and would anton chekhov fall under naturalism? what about all his psychological stuff?

Answer 1

Naturalism is a literary mode that attempts to reproduce the actual feel of life as it passes; usually it doesn't get into interior monologue, symbolism or experiment. Realism is arguably more of a philosophy of writing, one that tells itself that it's tackling reality rather than making up new worlds that operate by their own laws. By these definitions, Maxim Gorky is a naturalistic writer, James Joyce is a realist, but Franz Kafka is neither.

However, the Hungarian critic Georg Lukacs argued in the first half of the 20th century that the highpoint of realism was in the 19th century, from the novels of Walter Scott to those of Tolstoy, and he damned both Joyce and Kafka for what he regarded as bourgeois decadence, i.e. writing novels that were obviously fooling about, if only a bit. Lukacs' argument is persuasive, but not very helpful, as it entails rejecting some of the greatest 20th century literature.

Chekhov is not a naturalist, IMO, not in drama anyway. His plays have too much symbolism. Naturalism is generally restricted to observing the surface behaviour of people in strictly local situations, and can be a bit boring; realism is freer to draw the larger picture. The novels of John Dos Passos are certainly realist, but not naturalistic. Hope this helps.

One good example of how great writing transcends genre is Edward Bond's 1965 play 'Saved' - it looks like bare naturalism but in performance it's stunningly multi-layered.

Answer 2

I was told in one of my introductory-level art history classes that Realism is whatever is painted realistically, while Naturalism is that AND depicts realistic subject matter. So a painting of aliens or dragons can be realistic, but not naturalistic. Most of the time, however, the term Realism is used to refer to either realistic rendering, or realistic content, or even both. I rarely heard the term "naturalistic" in my four years in art school.

Answer 3

realism is to view or represent things as they really are, where naturalism is the view of the world that takes account only of natural elements and forces.