Notes

Literary realism:
- part of realist art movement beginning with mid-19th century French literature (Stendhal) and Russian literature (Alexander Pushkin), extending to the late 19th century and early 20th century.
- (in contrast to idealism) attempts to represent familiar things as they are. Realist authors chose to depict everyday and banal activities and experiences, instead of using romanticized or similarly stylized presentation.
- "The presentation of reality"
- attempts to represent subject matter truthfully, without artificiality and avoiding artistic conventions (*an artistic convention is a method or style of conveying or portraying something that is widely used and recognized as meaning of a certain thing. *Narrative conventions: refers to the elements and techniques employed by the writer to make meaning in a story. They include such things as characters, setting, plot, and point of view) as well as implausible, exotic, and supernatural elements.
Rationalism:
- a belief or theory that opinions and actions should be based on reason and knowledge rather than on religious belief or emotional response.
Surrealism:
- the surrealist artists sought to channel the unconscious as a means to unlock the power of the imagination.
- disdaining rationalism and literary realism, and powerfully influenced by psychoanalysis, the surrealists believed the rational mind repressed the power of the imagination, weighting it down with taboos (*taboo is a social or religious custom prohibiting or forbidding discussion of a particular practice or forbidding association with a particular person, place, or thing: điều cấm kỵ).