REALISM IN THE WORK OF TWAIN, JAMES AND HOWELLS
             The objective of this work is to research and examine the period of literary history as to the major historical events, overall themes, and innovative forms of writing. The three authors chosen for this work Mark Twain, William Howells, and Henry James in the initiative of researching their lives as well as their writing styles in order to discover why they are considered to be the 'best examples' of authors and literature from that specific period of literature.
             Great literary works that arose from the middle-class sector of American society during the period referred to as 'realism' gained affluence for the middle-class as talented writers such as Mark Twain, James Henry and William Dean Howells let their voice be heard through literature that was "an actual representation" of the American society in fictional, yet realistic literature of that time period.
             Literature written between the period of time beginning at the start of the Civil War until the turn of the century is referred to as 'realism'. This time period was characterized by "rapid growth in democracy and literature as well as in industrialism and urbanization and due to immigration "an expanding population base....and a relative rise in middle-class affluence provided by a fertile literature environment for readers interest in understanding these rapid shifts in culture." (American Realism 1986-1890) The literary works arising out of the American culture during this time period is distinguishable from the literature prior to this time period. Realism is stated to be "the faithful representation of reality" or "verisimilitude" which is a writing technique which denotes "a particular kind of subject matter...[specifically promoting] ...the representation of middle-class life." (American Realism 1865 -1890)
             I. CHARACTERISTICS OF LITERATURE OF THE PERIOD OF REALISM
             This writin...