Literary Text Types: Realism

This article is drawn from content originally included in PETAA Book A Literature Companion for Teachers 2nd Edition, written by Lorraine McDonald and published in 2017.

Contemporary Realism: Family, School, Social Issues, War

Stories in the realism genre are conventionally located in a particular time and place, with the characters perceiving and describing events. The reader recognises relationships within the text - set, for example, at school, between groups or within families - as contemporary, even if their verbal language/dialect, terminology and societal arrangements are different to the reader's immediate context. The realism presented is not objective: certain ways of thinking about the time, space and events are evident through the values and beliefs of the story's characters.

Family stories form a common realism sub-genre and are often closely integrated into school and social issues-related literary texts, such as those concerned with refugees, racial conflict, bullying, divorce and single parenting.

Often realistic stories are the most accessible for reluctant or less-mature readers, as the lives portrayed resemble their own lives. 

Conventions of Contemporary Realism:

  • set in our contemporary world
  • has recognisable settings, possible situations and realistic characters
  • uses recognisable language, terms and expressions
  • may include colloquial language and contemporary references (music, films, people)
  • presents family relationships and friendships
  • constructs emotional conflict for the focal character within the family, or outside it, or both

See A Literature Companion for Teachers 2nd Edition, written by Lorraine McDonald for examples of classroom activities you can use with your students to explore contemporary realism texts.

Historical Realism

Historical realism texts describe events from a specific time and place as experienced by characters who hold values, attributes and beliefs from the historical period. These values may be very different to ways of thinking about the world in Western society today. Students develop their critical reading of historical texts when these differences are contrasted and explained.

Historical realism explores how understanding our past deepens our understanding of the present. Often readers can appreciate changes in equity, health and social conditions through a comparison with their lived experiences.

Conventions of Historical Realism:

  • portrays ordinary life, describing minor, even trivial, details of life at the time
  • specific dates and/or real historical events are named, incorporated, described
  • vocabulary names the food eaten, the type of clothing worn, the objects used
  • names of characters are appropriate for the time and place
  • patterns of change and interaction have parallels in our own time giving a sense of continuity
  • characters develop as individuals, in the bildungsroman or 'coming of age' story
  • extraordinary events are part of the plot and produce extraordinary acts of courage from the character/s
  • authenticity is crucial: concepts of childhood, health, affluence, happiness are culturally specific to the time period
  • problems are often a result of social conditions and ways of thinking at the time.

See A Literature Companion for Teachers 2nd Edition, written by Lorraine McDonald for examples of classroom activities you can use with your students to explore historical realism texts.