Nineteenth-Century Literary Realism radically redefines the genre of realism, arguing that its political commitment to social reform--its earnest agenda--often enters into conflict with its formal demands. Obliged to portray life as truthfully as possible--often through the vehicle of describing tortured souls in a world out of sorts--realism must also satisfy ideological demands that may not jibe with that truth, leading to a crisis of form and function. By looking at these conflicts as peculiar to realism, Kearns reads as realist several texts usually considered too fantastic to fit the realist prescription.