SOURCE: "The Practice of Realism," in The Monster in the Mirror: Studies in Nineteenth-Century Realism, edited by D. A. Williams, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1978, pp. 257-79.

In the following excerpt, Williams briefly discusses the handling of time period and the role of historical accuracy in several Realist novels.

The Realist pays close attention to the physical and historical setting as well as to the social context.… Balzac may claim that the physical environment has a determinative influence on behaviour but, most typically the physical setting can be read as effect rather than cause, an indication of rather than an influence upon character. There is a widespread tendency … to exploit the symbolic potential of the physical setting, although this need not necessarily detract from its authenticity. Attentiveness to the physical setting grows, too, out of an 'archaeological' interest in the shape of things in the past. Although it is...