réalisme

Forms

réalisme m (plural réalismes)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French réel + -isme as a learned word, after Medieval Latin reālis (“real”).^[2][3][4] The adjective was taken from the Medieval Latin word, which comes from Latin rēs (“thing”).^[5]

The TLFi compares German Realismus, used by Kant in philosophy from 1781 and by Schiller of literature in 1798.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1801, in Charles de Villers, as a term of Kant's philosophy: the view that the outside world is real independently of our knowledge of it.^[2][6][3]

Semantic evolution

In philosophy the word was applied in 1829 to the medieval scholastic doctrine opposed to nominalisme, and later to the Platonic doctrine of the reality of ideas.^[2][6]

From 1826 it named a literary doctrine that would imitate nature itself rather than the masterpieces of art, and in 1833 Gustave Planche used it of the poetry of his day.^[2][6] About 1850 it became the name of the school of painting and writing that reacted against Romantic lyrisme: Champfleury applied it to Courbet's pictures in 1851, Courbet put Le Réalisme over the pavilion of his exhibition in 1855, and Champfleury published a book of that title in 1857.^[2][6] Baudelaire used it in 1857 for the depiction of the coarse, vulgar side of reality, a sense that competed with naturalisme.^[2][6]

In everyday use it came to mean a sense of reality, the habit of seeing things as they are and acting accordingly (1855).^[2][6] Réalisme socialiste, a calque of the Russian term, is recorded from 1932–1933, and nouveau réalisme named an art movement founded in 1960.^[2][6]

Timeline

• 1801 – Charles de Villers uses it of Kant's philosophy.^[2][3]
• 1826 – It names a literary doctrine of imitating nature.^[2][6]
• 1829 – Victor Cousin uses it of medieval scholastic philosophy, as opposed to nominalism.^[2]
• 1843 – Théophile Gautier applies it to art.^[2]
• 1851 – Champfleury writes of the realism of Courbet's paintings.^[2]
• 1855 – Courbet's exhibition pavilion is headed Le Réalisme; the sense “sense of reality” is also found.^[2]
• 1857 – Champfleury's book Le Réalisme appears, and Baudelaire uses the word for the crude depiction of reality.^[2]
• 1878 – The Académie française records the word.^[2]
• 1932–1933 – Réalisme socialiste appears.^[2][6]
• 1960 – The manifesto of nouveau réalisme is published.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (philosophy) The Platonic doctrine that ideas are real and individual things only reflect them, and the medieval doctrine of the reality of universals.^[4][2]
2. (philosophy) The doctrine that being exists independently of the mind that knows it, as opposed to idéalisme.^[4][7]
3. (art, literature) The view that the artist should depict reality without idealizing it, and the quality of a work made in that spirit: le réalisme d'un roman.^[4][7]
4. (history) The French literary and artistic school of the mid-19th century, of Courbet and Champfleury.^[4][6]
5. A crude, unvarnished depiction of reality.^[2][4]
6. A sense of reality, a pragmatic attitude: agir avec réalisme.^[4][8]

Word family

• surréalisme
• hyperréalisme

Related words

• réel
• réaliste
• irréalisme
• Medieval Latin reālis

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)