Tracing the Genealogy of Literary Movements: Realism, Naturalism, Decadence

This paper explores the descent of various 19th century movements namely Realism, Naturalism, and Decadence and argues that as discursive practices in literature, these forms have been in use since the evolution of fiction, though it lacked a formal, theoretical regimentation of its form. Within the ontological and epistemological paradigms, the paper dwells upon the zeitgeist that shaped up the emergence and ossification of these movements, apart from tracing its influence in various European and transatlantic countries