ABSTRACT
There is no clear cut between the naturalistic novel and the impressionistic novel. The transition is gradual; with some writers there is no complete break, and with others what really happens is that they continue the poetic realism of the pre-naturalistic period, though with a more literal conception of reality. Taking the later phase of novels en masse, what remains in them of the naturalistic programme is that the milieu may still be presented in detail; this, however, is no longer wearisome. The Milieuroman merges into the Charakterroman, the difference being that while in the former the milieu swamps the characters in the latter the milieu, though still emphasized, serves as a background against which the characters stand out in vivid relief, and that these characters, instead of being the chemical product of the milieu, dominate it.
