The Realistic Imagination: English Fiction from Frankenstein to Lady Chatterly

by George Lewis Levine

In The Realistic Imagination , George Levine argues that the Victorian realists and the later modernists were in fact doing similar things in their they were trying to use language to get beyond language. Levine sees the history of the nineteenth- and early twentieth-century novel as a continuing process in which each generation of writers struggled to escape the grip of convention and attempted to create new language to express their particular sense of reality. As these attempts hardened into new conventions, they generated new attempts to break free.

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Levine defends realism against accusations of naive realism. He connects realism to modernism, showing that realists were aware of the complications and dangers of their endeavor (knew that language did not clearly signify a truth 'out there'), but they struggled on anyway. Shows how Thackeray undermines narrative autonomy through authorial intrusions, character continuation, and comments about the other narratives he just as well could have written if it hadn't been for the one he is now writing.

Expansive, ambitious, well-done and very influential. I think I had internalized a lot of his ideas before I read them, which makes sense as this is over 20 years old now.

[Dr Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very comprehensive, covering entire realist project.