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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Recurso digital |
| Language: | |
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Zenodo
2025
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17758464 |
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Table of Contents:
- This paper explores the "ontological imperative" in nineteenth-century realist fiction, defined as the pervasive drive to imbue narrative with the authority of empirical fact and scientific objectivity. Amidst a cultural landscape increasingly shaped by scientific advancements and positivist thought, novelists sought to legitimize their art by mirroring the meticulous observation, causal reasoning, and systematic analysis characteristic of emerging scientific disciplines. Through close textual analysis of works by George Eliot, Émile Zola, Gustave Flaubert, and Honoré de Balzac, this study demonstrates how authors employed specific narrative strategies, detailed descriptions, and character developments informed by scientific methodologies to construct fictional worlds that aspired to the truth-claims of science. The paper argues that this imperative not only transformed literary aesthetics, moving away from romantic idealism towards a more verifiable representation of reality, but also played a crucial role in establishing the novel as a powerful tool for social and psychological inquiry, effectively bridging the domains of art and science in a shared pursuit of understanding the human condition and its material circumstances.