Theme Of Reality In American Literature

Abstract
The paper attempts to understand the notion of reality and its representation in the early periods of literature and how changes took place in its representation in the postmodern writings. Spanning from the 3rd century B.C where reality was represented as an imitation by Plato till the postmodern times where the idea of reality is dealt with by Baudrillard, Lyotard, a vast change can be seen in the notion of real, reality or the act of realization. The paper shall basically focus on the different strands of reality in which we dwell. In simple terms reality is an immediate experience which we gather in everyday life. If we look at it from a deeper level, then reality takes a different shape. In the everyday experiences we come across multiple realities. The argument of this paper centers on this idea of reality which is filtered or mediated. The real which we experience passes through a series of mediums. In American literature, the insights of realism, its subject, attitudes and technique made a mark in the writing tradition. Ralph Waldo Emerson says

They felt a need to shape the narrative. On practicing this, writers faced difficulty in representing facts. There is a crisis of representation which means difference between representation and the thing represented. Two prominent writers of the age in American literature named Henry James and Mark Twain have understood that language is an interpretation of the real rather than the real itself. The parade of characters represented people from ordinary walks of life. The simple language used in Twain’s novels marked the beginning of representation of reality in American literature. The representation of reality shows how each author actually realizes and brings character to life and clarifies his own world according to Erich Auerbach9. This harsh reality is represented through language. The narrative unfolds the different layers of