Imagination's Demise: Realism

Realism began as a French art movement in the late 1800s, but its basic principles became the guidelines for the movement across disciplines. Realism is marked by the following:

1. Truth is found in material objects
2. Truth is verifiable by Science and the Scientific method
3. Everything is explainable

What realism did to imagination was make it an inferior artistic expression. Mystery and fantasy were inappropriate forms, and naturalism and science were the key means by which the human condition was explored.

Realist writers didn't abandon wholly the elements of good fiction, but all scenes, adventures, and actions were dealt with in terms of real world and science. Imagination would dwindle in pop-culture.