On the appeal of Realism

A response to the discussion on realism in the Narrative-L—in answer to what Matthew Clark called "the limited appeal of realism":

The appeal of realism —or "realisms", to ward off the bluntness thing— is not limited. Realisms do not "copy" reality. They expand it —adding representations of unknown aspects of reality to the well-known ones, establishing relationships between heretofore unconnected aspects of reality—or underlining, emphasizing, testing the borders of their own game, with forays into surrealism or fantasy or what have you. Realisms are magnificent. We keep paying for them, all the time, and expanding and reinventing them.

—that is, realism never stays the same, it keeps exploring new corners of reality and new ways of representing them. It moves beyond received reality and received realism. Hence, "realisms".

Jose Angel García Landa
http://unizar.academia.edu/Jos%C3%A9AngelGarc%C3%ADaLanda

—oOo—