Starting from the relationship between literature and reality, this essay provides a reflection of the concept of realism and its different understandings and positionings in contemporary literature. A revisión of realism in the 19th and 20th centúries leads one, on the first hand, to the 1 Oth-century idea of realism which witnessed the process of transformation and change in modern society; and on the other hand, to 20th-century socialist realism, a functionalist conception of art and literature which has to reflect the historical moment. Finally, and in relation to Catalan literature, this essay analyzes the historical realism of the 1960s
