Dirty realism is a term created by Bill Buford of Granta magazine to describe a literary movement in North America. Writers connected to this type of realism focus on the less glamorous or everyday parts of life, using simple and straightforward language.

Definition

The term became the title of the Summer 1984 edition of Granta. Buford wrote an introduction that explained the topic.

Style

Dirty realism is a type of literary style that is sometimes linked to minimalism. It is known for using few words and focusing on describing things as they appear. Writers in this genre usually avoid adverbs, long metaphors, and showing what characters think inside their heads. Instead, they let objects and the situation around characters explain their meaning. Characters in these stories often have simple, unimportant jobs and face challenges like not having enough money, which creates a feeling of hopelessness.

The 1969 movie Midnight Cowboy is sometimes described as an example of dirty realism because it features characters who are struggling and on the edge of society. In a 2021 article titled "Dustin Hoffman was kicked out of Sardi's while in character for Midnight Cowboy," Michael Kaplan uses the term "dirty realism" to discuss the film.

Notable authors

Modern scholarship mainly focuses on the authors Buford mentions in his Granta 8 essay, including Raymond Carver (1938–1988), Tobias Wolff (b. 1945), Richard Ford (b. 1944), Larry Brown (1951–2004), Frederick Barthelme (b. 1943), Pedro Juan Gutiérrez (b. 1950), Fernando Velázquez Medina (b. 1951), and Jayne Anne Phillips (b. 1952). These authors have rarely used this term themselves, even though they are closely connected to the movement and share similar ideas.