Edmond Duranty and the journal Réalisme (1856–1857), at war with “materialistic” poets

The collaborators of the journal Réalisme openly declared war on poetry. The genre, little appreciated by realists in general, was the object of virulent hatred on the part of the “réalistes de la sincérité” [“realists of sincerity”]. This article explores the reasons for this, seeks to understand why poets were considered “materialistic”—an adjective generally applied to realists themselves—, and aims to demonstrate the originality of these early realists’ position in relation to their successors.