All about Realism

As this is the very first piece of reading journal for the World Literature class, I am going to make it very special with impressive BS and even include pictures that I find captivating. The very first short story we read in class was The Student by Anton Chekhov, who is  a so-called realism writer. In sharp contrast to writers from the Romantic Period, Anton Chekhov adopted a writing style that is very straightforward and lucid for the readers to comprehend.  

Let us discuss realism in detail. What is this BS we call realism? According to Britannica, realism writers are those who eliminated from their work the "softer" qualities in romantic novels - tenderness, idealism, chivalry passion, and the like - which seemed to them to hide the stark realities of life in a dreamlike haze. Simply put, writers who pursue realism do not like bombastic phrases and flamboyant descriptions. Additionally, they try to portray the reality as how it actually appears to be without any packaging to make it seem glorious. Although the reality is grim and most people try to deny the fact that they are actually living in an abysmal world, realistic writers do not hesitate to reveal the very truth of the society. realistic I really do enjoy reading realism novels as I believe that readers should not accept the illusory sense of reality as presented in romantic novels. Readers should be able to learn about what is actually happening to the contemporary society. In this sense, I think realistic literary pieces are analogous to newspapers.

  However, after reading The Student, I failed to define it as a realistic piece from the language used. Anton Chekhov constantly used detailed descriptions using numerous literary techniques, and they added up to make The Student seem very romantic. Even from the very first paragraph, the sentences caught my eye as even a quick glance showed that this story adopted a writing style that would appear in romantic pieces. I began to question why Anton Chekhov is praised so highly as an exemplary realist among the critiques.

At first the weather was fine and still. The thrushes were calling, and in the swamps close by something alive droned pitifully with a sound like blowing into an empty bottle. A snipe flew by, and the shot aimed at it rang out with a gay, resounding note in the spring air. But when it began to get dark in the forest a cold, penetrating wind blew inappropriately from the east, and everything sank into silence. Needles of ice stretched across the pools, and it felt cheerless, remote, and lonely in the forest. There was a whiff of winter.

  It is tough to comment on the content, because my knowledge of realism is still shallow, and I feel a bit apprehensive to make a suggestion regarding realism. However, I want to say that the story came easy to read, but frustrating to comprehend, especially to those who do not understand the Bible. Another challenge the readers face in dissecting the story is that nothing actually happens, and that is why most people choose to comment on the characters as it is impossible to make a consummate analysis on the plot. After a cursory glance, most will describe Ivan Velikopolsky as affected and ostentatious although he is a figure without wisdom, and I disagree with this remark. It is indeed weird  for a person to start speaking about the Bible to strangers he had never met before. But this behavior of the student does not make him a dabbler, because we cannot judge the scope of his knowledge based on such a short reading. He might actually be an extremely pious Christian who read the Bible so many times that he memorized it completely and is able to talk about it in whatever situation he is stuck. Furthermore, it is perfectly normal for a human being to show off his intelligence to the others and for Ivan's case, his head was simply filled with thoughts about the Bible.

  The story told by Ivan is about betrayal and remorse, and ultimately forgiveness. Peter, who denied knowing Jesus for three times, later becomes one of the greatest of all saints. 

  That Anton Chekhov is a representative realist is not very evident in The Student. One student mentioned about how the norm of realism accepted in Russia might have been different from what we see, and I believe that this can actually be a major reason that thwarts us from approving The Student as a realistic literary piece. This piece of writing failed to include any impressive BS that I had initially planned, but I am sure that I will be able to add a few after getting in touch with many more realistic novels and Anton Chekhov.