Naturalism: A literary movement seeking to depict
life as accurately as possible, without artificial distortions of emotion,
idealism, and literary convention. The school of thought is a product of post-Darwinian
biology in the nineteenth century. It asserts that human beings exist
entirely in the order of nature. Human behavior is determined by two kinds of
forces, hereditary and environment. The individual's compulsive instincts
toward sexuality, hunger, and accumulation of goods are inherited via genetic
compulsion and the social and economic forces surrounding his or her
upbringing. (Literary
Terms and Definitions) |