Since Dean Howells declared his "realism war" in the 1880s, literary historians have regarded the rise of realism and naturalism as the signal development in post-Civil War American fiction. Questioning this generalization, Michael Davitt Bell investigates the role that the terms played in the social and literary discourse of the 1880s and 1890s.

Acknowledgments Introduction: American Realism Pt. 1: The First Generation: William Dean Howells, Mark Twain, Henry James 1: The Sin of Art: William Dean Howells The Problem of Howellsian Realism The Road to Realism A Portrait of the Artist as a "Real" Man The Problem of American Realism 2: Humor, Sentiment, Realism: Mark Twain Mark Twain as Critic Adventures of Huckleberry Finn A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court 3: Artist Fables: Henry James's Realist Phase A Different Road/A Different Realism Realism and Reform Naturalism, Impressionism, Revolution Pt. 2: The Problem of Naturalism: Frank Norris, Stephen Crane, Theodore Dreiser 4: The Revolt against Style: Frank Norris The Road to Naturalism Naturalism and Style 5: Irony, Parody, and "Transcendental Realism": Stephen Crane The Language of the Street Words of War 6: Fine Styles of Sympathy; Theodore Dreiser's Sister Carrie Dreiser and American Naturalism Condescension and Identification Pt. 3: A "Woman's Place" in American Realism: Sarah Orne Jewett 7: Local Color and Realism: Sarah Orne Jewett Jewett's Place in American Realism Maine Person and Boston Professional Realism, Feminism, and the World of Dunnet Landing Notes Index