Adventures in Realism offers an accessible introduction to realism as it has evolved since the 19th century. Though focused on literature and literary theory, the significance of technology and the visual arts is also addressed.

List of Illustrations. Notes on Contributors. Foreword by Rachel Bowlby (University College London). Acknowledgments. Introduction: Reclaiming Realism: Matthew Beaumont (University College London). 1. Literary Realism Reconsidered: “The world in its length and breadth”: George Levine (Rutgers University). 2. Realist Synthesis in the Nineteenth Century Novel: “That unity which lies in the selection of our keenest consciousness”: Simon Dentith (University of Gloucestershire). 3. Space, Mobility, and the Novel: “The spirit of place is a great reality”: Josephine McDonagh (Oxford University). 4. Naturalism: “Dirt and horror pure and simple”: Sally Ledger (Birkbeck College, University of. London). 5. Realism before and after Photography: “The fantastical form of a relation among things”: Nancy Armstrong (Brown University). 6. The Realist Aesthetic in Painting: “Serious and committed, ironic and brutal, sincere and full of poetry”: Andrew Hemingway (University College London). 7. Interrupted Dialogues of Realism and Modernism: “The fact of new forms of life, already born and active”: Esther Leslie (Birkbeck College, University of London). 8. Socialist Realism: “To depict reality in its revolutionary development”: Brandon Taylor (University of Southampton). 9. Realism, Modernism, and Photography: “At last, at last the mask has been torn away’”: John Roberts (University of Wolverhampton). 10. Cinematic Realism: “A recreation of the world in its own image”: Laura Marcus (University of Sussex). 11. The Current of Critical Irrealism: “A moonlit enchanted night”: Michael Löwy (National Center for Scientific Research, Paris and École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris). 12. Psychoanalysis and the Lacanian Real: “Strange shapes of the unwarped primal world”: Slavoj Žižek (University of Ljubljana and Birkbeck College, University of London). 13. Feminist Theory and the Return of the Real: “What we really want most out of realism …”: Helen Small (Pembroke College, Oxford). 14. Realism and Anti-Realism in Contemporary Philosophy: “What’s truth got to do with it?”: Christopher Norris (Cardiff University). 15. A Note on Literary Realism in Conclusion: Fredric Jameson (Duke University). Index

Adventures in Realism offers a scholarly yet accessible introduction to realism as it has evolved since the 19th century. Comprising 16 newly-commissioned essays written by a distinguished group of contributors, including Slavoj Žižek and Fredric Jameson, this wide-ranging volume: Provides the historical, cultural, intellectual, and literary contexts necessary to understand developments in realismAddresses the artistic mediums and technologies such as painting and film that have helped shape the way we perceive realityExplores literary and pictorial sub-genres such as naturalism and socialist realism. Each section concludes with a short bibliography and a guide to further reading.