The literature of realism from 1850 to 1900 has maintained a lively exchange of knowledge across the disciplinary boundaries of economics and literary studies. While the literary world has appropriated the vocabulary of economics in order to lend factual plausibility to fiction, economics has often resorted to literary devices in its narratives. This study examines this system of relationships as they are manifest in the discourse of realism. It describes a trans-disciplinary poetology of realism and portrays a realm of institutional economic thought with rich humanist content.