Negative Realism: Reading the Novels of John Williams

This thesis attempts to posit a dynamic theory of literary realism that accounts not only for the commonly understood “historical” realisms of the 18^th and 19^th centuries, but for the more fluid realisms that arise in the modern and postmodern eras. Realisms of this sort are still understood to be expressions of particular, sociohistorical eras, but these expressions must be understood to be subject to material change in society. This paper breaks, then, with traditional Marxist conceptions of realism as the direct response to enlightenment thought and early capitalism, and instead argues for traceable eruptions of realism throughout the history of the novel, including in contemporary literature. As a case study, this thesis will examine two major novels of John Williams—Butcher’s Crossing and Stoner—in an attempt to clarify what a contemporary theory of realism might look like once it is divorced from its Georgian and Victorian origins.