The Opposite of Reality

The novel in France in the 80s, 1890s was really dominated by the naturalist movement. A group of more artistically minded writers saw Zola's naturalist literature as being responsible for the decline and decadence of the novelAs an art form. So they decided to write novels which would be the exact opposite of everything that Zola wanted to do. They were very much inspired by the idealist philosophy coming out of Germany,. specifically Shopenhauer.