ABSTRACT
The adherents to Naturalism tended to congregate in groups, to publish manifestos and to proclaim their artistic theories. The French Naturalists envisaged themselves as a second generation of Realists, an image that has since been repeated by many critics. Just as France was supreme as the source of Naturalism, so within French Naturalism –and eventually far beyond– the decisive mind was that of Emile Zola. The picture of Naturalism in England is a complete contrast to that in France. In England there was never a Naturalist movement as such, i.e. there were no groups or manifestos, only a few scattered works, mainly in the 1890s, by George Gissing, George Moore, Arthur Morrison, and Richard Whiteing. In the USA Naturalism is even more closely linked to social and economic changes than in Europe, perhaps because these changes were more rapid and more radical in this new nation. American Naturalism grew in direct response to these native social and economic problems.
