Jack London content introduction bob naturalism (1880s 1940s)

*This post has been updated to include examples of Naturalism in 
literature and a lesson plan. It was originally published in February 
2014.
Genres of Literature 
Teaching literary genres helps provide context and understanding. 

American Romanticism 

British Romanticism 

Naturalism 

Realism 

Modernism 
Naturalism Definition 
Naturalism
(NATCH-rull-ihz-uhm) is a late 19th-century literary 
movement in which writers focused on exploring the fundamental 
causes for their characters‟ actions, choices, and beliefs. These causes 
centered on the influence of family and society upon the individual—
and all the complications that exist therein—resulting in a view that 
environmental factors are the primary determinant of human character. 
Naturalism is in many ways interconnected with realism, but realism is 
primarily a style of writing, while naturalism is a philosophy in writing. 
French author Émile Zola first adapted the term 
naturalism
to describe 
a specific type of literature and designed many of the theories behind 
the movement. Though its prominence ended around the turn of the 

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20th century, naturalism left an ongoing impact, as many modern 
writers incorporate naturalist features into their work. 
The History of Naturalism 
Jules-Antoine Castagnary, a French art critic, first used the 
term 
naturalism
to describe a style of lifelike painting that became 
popular in the early 1860s. Émile Zola then applied the term to 
literature. Zola‟s seminal essay “The Experimental Novel,” published 
in 1880, presents a detailed examination of the novel as a preeminent 
naturalistic literary art form. 
Zola laid out three main arguments in the essay. First, writers could 
incorporate French physiologist Claude Bernard‟s method of scientific 
inquiry to their works. Bernard stated that controlled experiments could 
either prove or disprove a hypothesis regarding the tested phenomena. 
Zola posited that a writer could use this same approach, with the 
characters functioning as the phenomena. Second, Zola said this 
experimental 
method 
separates 
naturalism 
from 
realism 
and romanticism. Finally, Zola presented an argument challenging his 
critics‟ assertions that his work was immoral and offensive. 
Zola‟s 20-novel series 
Les Rougon-Macquart
, written between 1871 
and 1893, is one of the most significant contributions to naturalist 
literature. It centers on the lives of two fictional French families—one 
privileged, the other destitute—throughout five generations. 
Environment, heredity, and the challenges of life in the Second French 
Empire ultimately lead each family to ruin. 

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25 
American author Frank Norris was another formative figure in the 
naturalism movement. Like Zola, he viewed his characters as 
experiments; he exposed them to certain stimuli or phenomena and 
recorded their reactions. The result blends literature and science, 
marrying a writer‟s gift for character and description with a scientist‟s 
detached observations on proven or disproven hypotheses. Stephen 
Crane, the author of 
The Red Badge of Courage
 and other works, 
employed a similar approach and contributed greatly to the canon of 
American naturalism. 
Naturalism as its own distinct literary movement largely ended around 
1900, when American magazine 
The Outlook
published a tongue-in-
cheek obituary for naturalism. The publication went so far as to deem 
Zola‟s efforts to craft a new form of scientific literature a total failure. 
This stance is debatable, especially because countless writers since 
1900 have infused their works with heavily naturalistic elements. 
Ernest Hemingway, Edith Wharton, and Jack London are just a few 
who carried naturalism into the 20th century.