Kmart Kmart Corporation ( , doing business as Kmart and stylized as kmart) is an American retail company that owns a chain of big box department stores. The company is headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, United States. The company was inc ...

realism, also termed "low-rent tragedies", is a form of

minimalist In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

found in American

short fiction A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

that became popular in the 1980s.

Style

These short stories "represent and reproduce the disintegration of public life ndthe colonization of private life by

consumer capitalism A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or business activities. ...

Background

The precursors of Kmart realism include the so-called ''trailer park fiction'', ''Diet-Pepsi minimalism'', and ''hick chic''. Author

Tao Lin Tao Lin (; born July 2, 1983) is an American novelist, poet, essayist, short-story writer, and artist. He has published four novels, a novella, two books of poetry, a collection of short stories, and a memoir, as well as an extensive assortment of ...

described Kmart realism as being "at its “height” maybe in the mid to late-80’s. Frederick Barthelme had 20-30 stories published in the ''

New Yorker New Yorker or ''variant'' primarily refers to: * A resident of the State of New York ** Demographics of New York (state) * A resident of New York City ** List of people from New York City * ''The New Yorker'', a magazine founded in 1925 * '' The ...

'', Mary Robison also had many stories in the ''New Yorker'', and Gordon Lish was publishing other people’s books and stories as an editor at Alfred A. Knopf and ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...

'' around then."

Criticism

A related definition describes the genre as American fiction that is characterized, among other things, by a fascination with consumption venues and brand names. John Gardner, in critical works such as '' On Moral Fiction'', criticized this style using the term "brand-name fiction writers" while

Tom Wolfe Thomas Kennerly Wolfe Jr. (March 2, 1930 – May 14, 2018)Some sources say 1931; ''The New York Times'' and Reuters both initially reported 1931 in their obituaries before changing to 1930. See and was an American author and journalist widely ...

had similar criticisms as well.

Notable authors

Frederick Barthelme Fredrick Barthelme (born October 10, 1943) is an American novelist and short story writer, well-known as one of the seminal writers of minimalist fiction. Alongside his personal publishing history, his position as Director of The Center For Write ...

, brother of postmodern novelist

Donald Barthelme Donald Barthelme (April 7, 1931 – July 23, 1989) was an American short story writer and novelist known for his playful, postmodernist style of short fiction. Barthelme also worked as a newspaper reporter for the ''Houston Post'', was managing ...

, is noted for his use of Kmart realism in stories such as "Safeway" (''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', 1981). In addition, Rachel Page, sister of noted postmodern poet Allen Page, has written works that follow the genre of "dirty realism". Other writers noted for this style also include

Ann Beattie Ann Beattie (born September 8, 1947) is an American novelist and short story writer. She has received an award for excellence from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters and the PEN/Malamud Award for excellence in the short story f ...

Raymond Carver Raymond Clevie Carver Jr. (May 25, 1938 – August 2, 1988) was an American short story writer and poet. He contributed to the revitalization of the American short story during the 1980s. Early life Carver was born in Clatskanie, Oregon, a mi ...

Eric Bogosian Eric Bogosian ( hy, Էրիկ Բոգոսյան; ; born April 24, 1953) is an American actor, playwright, monologuist, novelist, and historian. Descended from Armenian American immigrants, he grew up in Watertown and Woburn, Massachusetts, and a ...

Richard Ford Richard Ford (born February 16, 1944) is an American novelist and short story writer. His best-known works are the novel ''The Sportswriter'' and its sequels, ''Independence Day'', ''The Lay of the Land'' and ''Let Me Be Frank With You'', and the ...

Bobbie Ann Mason Bobbie Ann Mason (born May 1, 1940) is an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and literary critic from Kentucky. Her memoir was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Early life and education A child of Wilburn and Christina Mason, Bobb ...

Mary Robison Mary Cennamo Robison (born January 14, 1949 in Washington, D.C., United States) is an American short story writer and novelist. She has published four collections of stories, and four novels, including her 2001 novel ''Why Did I Ever'', winn ...

, Joy Williams,

Don DeLillo Donald Richard DeLillo (born November 20, 1936) is an American novelist, short story writer, playwright, screenwriter and essayist. His works have covered subjects as diverse as television, nuclear war, sports, the complexities of language, perf ...

and

Tobias Wolff Tobias is the transliteration of the Greek which is a translation of the Hebrew biblical name he, טוֹבִיה, Toviyah, JahGod is good, label=none. With the biblical Book of Tobias being present in the Deuterocanon/Apocrypha of the Bible, To ...

. Mason, for instance, often writes about working-class characters in rural

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

who do their laundry at

laundromats A self-service laundry, coin laundry, laundromat, or coin wash is a facility where clothes are washed and dried without much personalized professional help. They are known in the United Kingdom as launderettes or laundrettes, and in the Uni ...

, and subject matters that are similar to those favored by the aforementioned writers such as

Dairy Queen Dairy Queen (DQ) is an American chain of soft serve ice cream and fast food restaurants owned by International Dairy Queen, Inc. (a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway since 1998) which also owns Orange Julius, and formerly owned Karmelkorn and G ...

s, grocery stores, and third-rate motels.

List of Kmart realist novels

*''Mall'' (Eric Bogosian, 2000) *''The Pheasant'' (Raymond Carver, 1982) *''The Quick & the Dead'' (Joy Williams, 2000) *''In Country'' (Bobbie Ann Mason, 1985) *''Where I'm Calling From'' (Raymond Carver, 1988) *''Shiloh and Other Stories'' (Bobbie Ann Mason, 1982) *''Escapes'' (Joy Williams, 1990) *''

Pattern Recognition Pattern recognition is the automated recognition of patterns and regularities in data. It has applications in statistical data analysis, signal processing, image analysis, information retrieval, bioinformatics, data compression, computer graphi ...

'' (

William Gibson William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as ''cyberpunk''. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, his ...

, 2003) *''The Savage Girl'' (

Alex Shakar Alexander Michael Shakar (born April 25, 1968) is an American novelist, short story writer, and academic. His novel ''Luminarium'' (Soho Press, 2011) received the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Fiction. His first novel, '' The Savage Girl'', was ...

, 2001) *''

Homo Zapiens ''Homo'' () is the genus that emerged in the (otherwise extinct) genus ''Australopithecus'' that encompasses the extant species ''Homo sapiens'' (modern humans), plus several extinct species classified as either ancestral to or closely related ...

'' (

Victor Pelevin Victor Olegovich Pelevin ( rus, Виктор Олегович Пелевин, p=ˈvʲiktər ɐˈlʲɛɡəvʲɪtɕ pʲɪˈlʲevʲɪn; born 22 November 1962) is a Russian fiction writer. His novels include ''Omon Ra'' (1992), ''The Life of Insects ...

, 1999)

In other media

The 2010 film '' Blue Valentine'' was described by one critic as "easily located at the intersection of romance film and indie-handheld-camera-Kmart-realism". The

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band

The Spirit of the Beehive ''The Spirit of the Beehive'' (Spanish: ''El espíritu de la colmena'') is a 1973 Spanish drama film directed by Víctor Erice. The film was Erice's debut and is considered a masterpiece of Spanish cinema. The film focuses on a young girl named ...

is also described as Kmart realism.Spirit of the Beehive: ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH Album Review, Pitchfork
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kmart Realism Literary realism Realism (art movement) 20th-century American literature 21st-century American literature 1980s in literature 1990s in literature 2000s in literature