Impressionism (literature)  

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Influenced by the Impressionist art movement, many writers adopted a style that relied on associations. The Dutch Tachtigers explicitly tried to incorporate impressionism into their novels, poems, and other literary works. Much of what we would call "impressionist" literature is actually subsumed into a number of categories, especially Symbolism, with its chief exponents being Baudelaire, Mallarmé, Rimbaud, and Verlaine. Later exemplars of this type of poetry in the 20th century might include Rene Char and Paul Claudel, though they might resist this appellation.

Impressionistic literature can basically be defined as when an author centers his story/attention on the character's mental life such as the character's impressions, feelings, sensations and emotions, rather than trying to interpret them. Authors such as Virginia Woolf (Mrs Dalloway) and Joseph Conrad (Heart of Darkness and "The Lagoon") are among the foremost creators of the type. These novels have been said to be the finest examples of a genre which is not easily comprehensible.

The term is used to describe a work of literature characterized by the selection of a few details to convey the sense impressions left by an incident or scene. This style of writing occurs when characters, scenes, or actions are portrayed from a subjective point of view of reality.



Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Impressionism (literature)" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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