1. Why are [Balzac's] novels often called realist?
I'll discuss what makes Pere Goriot a realist novel, as I have not had the good fortune of reading any other Balzac novels as of yet. To start with, I'll attempt to define "realism". The Dictionary of Literary Terms & Literary Theory by Penguin Reference defines realism in literature as "the portrayal of life with fidelity. It is thus not concerned with idealization, with rendering things as beautiful when they are not, or in any way presenting them in any guise as they are not..." This portion of the definition comes after the author's opinion that the term realism is "often ambivalent and equivocal..." and "... is a term with many now feel we could do without". Balzac is often credited as one of the first "realist" novelist. This is largely in part because he wrote about the "common people" and not just the aristocrats in France, as most previous authors had done. The sense of realism is also displayed in Pere Goriot through its characters as not one of them was free from flaws, either in the eyes of the other characters, or the narrator. Even in today's literature (despite the Dictionary's argument that we can do without the term realism), we are often presented with infalliable characters unlike any person we would meet in reality. The characters in Pere Goriot were not like that. They were real, complete with misgivings. Even the main characters, the ones you'd most want to bond with throughout the novel, had obvious problems.
Cuddon, J.A., Dictionary of Literary Terms & Literary Theory, Penguin Books, 1998 ISBN: 0-140-51363-9
Eklins, Katherine, Giants of French Literature: Balzac, Flaubert, Proust, and Camus, Recorded Books
