Heart of Darkness
First Impressions
Look at the image below.
What is your initial response
to the image and why?
What do you think is being
depicted in the image?
What is your response now and why?
In what ways do the details make sense in
the context of the picture as a whole?
In what ways did looking too closely at
only a part of the image get in the way
of you being able to understand what the
image looks like?
In what ways would
a photograph of the
scene depicted in
the painting be
different? In other
words, how might
the experience/
response change if
you were to have
looked at a
photograph of the
scene that the
painter was looking
at when he created
his work?
“About the middle of the nineteenth century the
French painters Manet, Monet, Degas, Renoir, and
others revolted from the conventional and academic
conceptions of painting and held that it was more
important to retain the impressions an object makes
Georges Seurat – Clothes on the Grass
on the artist than
meticulously to
present the
appearance of
that object by
precise detail and
careful, realistic
finish. . . They
suggested the
features of an
object with a few
strokes; they
were more
interested in
ATMOSPHERE
Renoir – Rising Path Through High Grass
Degas – Bathers on the Grass
than in perspective
or outline. ‘Instead
of painting a tree,’
says Lewis Mumford,
the impressionist
‘painted the effect of
a tree.’ The
movement had its
counterpart in
literature, writers
accepting the same
conviction that
personal attitudes
and moods of the
writer were
legitimate elements
in exploring
character or setting
or action.
Briefly, the literary
impressionist holds
that the expression
of such elements as
these through the
fleeting impression
of a moment is more
significant
artistically than a
photographic
presentation of cold
fact.
Monet – Luncheon on the Grass
The object of
the
impressionist,
then, is not to
present his
material as it is
to the objective
observer but as
it is seen or felt
to be by himself
in a single
passing
moment.”
Picasso – Luncheon on the Grass
- C. Hugh Holman, A
Handbook to Literature
Impressionist writer characteristics:
*
They use a narrative style that is intentionally ambiguous, placing more
responsibility on the reader to form his or her conclusions about events within
the novel, rather than relying on the narrator.
Manet – Luncheon on the Grass
* They often describe
the action through the
eyes of the character
while the events are
occurring, rather than
providing details after
the character has
already processed the
action. The result is
sometimes like being
in an accident – where
everything appears to
be moving in slow
motion. All of the
details seem unclear.
* They’re concerned with the “emotional
landscape” of the setting. They’re interested in
ways the setting evokes certain emotional
responses from both the character and the reader.
* They employ details in such a way that it’s
sometimes difficult to see a clear picture of events if
you focus on the details too closely. Much like an
impressionistic painting, it’s only possible to get a full
picture once you stand back from the novel and view it
in its entirety.
* They often
avoid a
chronological
telling of events.
Instead, they give
the reader
information in a
way that forces
them to focus on
how and why
things happen
rather than on the
order in which
they occur.
The following passage from Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness reflects the
impressionist style of writing:
“I saw a face amongst the leaves on the level with
my own, looking at me very fierce and steady; and
then suddenly, as though a veil had been removed
from my eyes, I made out, deep in the tangled gloom,
naked breasts, arms, legs, glaring eyes – the bush
was swarming with human limbs in movement,
glistening, of bronze colour. The twigs shook,
swayed, and rustled, the arrows flew out of them,
and then the shutter came to.”
“I saw a face amongst the leaves on the level with my own, looking at me very fierce and steady; and then
suddenly, as though a veil had been removed from my eyes, I made out, deep in the tangled gloom, naked
breasts, arms, legs, glaring eyes – the bush was swarming with human limbs in movement, glistening, of
bronze colour. The twigs shook, swayed, and rustled, the arrows flew out of them, and then the shutter
came to.”
Notice how Conrad’s narrator
reports things as they are happening,
before he’s had a chance to process
the information. Notice also the
attentionto color and movement. It’s
interesting to note that at
this point, the speaker is
actually under attack. Yet it
takes him a few more lines
before he realizes this,
further enhancing the sense
that the reader is experiencing the
attack with the narrator.
Joseph Conrad
It’s important to
note here that
authors don’t
subscribe to a
particular school
and then write
according to a
set of rules or
standards.
Pissaro – Woman Picking Grass
Pissaro – Woman Picking Grass
It’s generally critics who come along later and
notice trends between various artists
who then place
the artists in the
various
categories.
To get a better idea of what an
impressionist painting looks like,
visit the Metropolitan Museum of
Art’s Web site at
http://www.metmuseum.org
Pissaro – Woman Picking Grass
To get a better idea of what an impressionist
work of literature looks like, get ready to
plunge into . . .
Heart of Darkness
by Joseph Conrad