Detail in Realism
Detail is that special something, that je ne sais quoi that sets Realism apart from other literary schools. Detail is the stuff that Realist writers use to weave their magic with: these writers immerse us in so much detail that we can't help but believe that what we're reading is real.
How did this technique start? With a couple of Frenchies, actually. Honoré de Balzac and Gustave Flaubert took the use of detail to a new level in their novels about French life. Open up Cousin Bette or Madame Bovary, and you'll find an encyclopedia of teeny-tiny details: food, clothes, landscapes, social habits: you name it. These works became models of Realist technique, both in France and abroad.
Chew on This
Check out how Gustave Flaubert dishes the details about Madame Bovary's appearance in order to indicate aspects of her character and mood in Madame Bovary.
And here we have Lev Tolstoy going inside his characters' heads to detail their thoughts and emotions in Anna Karenina.