Verisimilitude in Realism
Verisimilitude is a sexy word meaning truthiness. Realist literature is famous for the way it tries to create a world that seems real or true; Realist writers want us to believe that we're watching real life unfold on the page.
Hey, it's called Realism. Is anyone surprised?
Realist writers go out of their way to make sure that they get their facts straight. If a Realist writer is writing about London in 1870, you can bet that writer either lives in London or has done some serious research on London, because he or she would want the London of the novel to be as true to life as possible.
In fact, Realism was heavily influenced by journalistic techniques, and that's no surprise, given that journalism at the time was also taking off. Realist writers often write like journalists, and their attention to specific facts and specific details only adds to the sense of verisimilitude in their fictional works.
Chew on This
Check out how Leo Tolstoy creates verisimilitude when writing about warfare and battlefields in War and Peace (Quotes #2 and #3).
And here is Tolstoy again, this time showing us just how horrible it is to visit the doctor in his novella The Death of Ivan Ilyich.