Naturalism in Literature

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at a classic example of naturalism within literature by examining London's short story. It analyzes this story which was published in "The Century Magazine" in 1908 with its themes of the fragility of human survival and the ways in which we as humans are defined by the ways in which we are at odds with the rest of nature. The paper examines how this story epitomizes all the typical characteristics of 'naturalism.'

From the Paper:

"In literature, Naturalism extended the tradition of realism, aiming at an even more faithful, unselective representation of reality. It is not coincidental that the rise of Naturalism should follow the rise of photography as an artform (and as a technological possibility), for both photography and naturalism (whether in literature or in the visual arts) attempted to give to the audience or reader a sense of looking at unmediated, uncreated life. Jack London does not want us to remember that we are reading a story that he has made up, but rather he wishes to give us the sense that we ourselves are there. His writing is meant to be invisible, presented to us like a documentary photograph without moral judgment."

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