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.