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

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. Degas – Bathers on the Grass

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.” - C. Hugh Holman, A Handbook to Literature Picasso – Luncheon on the Grass

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.

“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.” 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.” Notice how Conrad’s narrator reports things as they are happening, before he’s had a chance to process the information. Notice also the attention to 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

It’s generally critics who come along later and notice trends between various artists Pissaro – Woman Picking Grass

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 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 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