The Fiction of Sarah Barnwell Elliott

(From the Conclusion)

In a final consideration of the significance of Sarah Barnwell Elliott, it is necessary to compare her with other writers of the period, and to estimate her achievement in relation to those writers. First, it must be understood that in the latter half of the nineteenth century realism was a growing genre in serious literature, replacing the romantic and the sentimental in critical approbation. The trend toward realism resembled the earlier romantic movement, with its successful opposition to the artificiality of corrupt eighteenth century neo-classicism. Both reforms sought to re-emphasize the real, as against the contrived. That is, characters, themes, and motives in sentimental fiction were not life-like, and therefore not real. Realism was, then, a return to the life-like. The effect of real life was to be gained by basing the action on actual human motives, and by allowing the action to produce a natural conclusion.