Post/Impressionistic Characteristics In Hemingway’s Fictions

Originated in Europe in the 19th century,impressionism gradually became a universal art school,developing from the field of painting to that of music,sculpture,literature and so on.The impressionists pay more attention to the description of transient mental impressions,sensual incentives in sound and vision and effective unity of light and color from nature with sketchy brushstrokes.Accordingly,literary impressionists avail themselves of subjective senses to observe the outside world.By contrast of light,shade and color,the impressionist artistic conception is established and the inner fluctuation of characters is implied.In addition,various fragments and impressions are combined in series to make reality merge objects with subjective perceptions and construct unique structures with visual fragments.As a result,impression makes the rich connotations of his works vivid,and theme makes impression profound.Guided by post/impressionist and literary impressionist principles,the thesis adopts the text-analysis method,focuses on Hemingway’s representative works like The Sun Also Rises,A Farewell to Arms and “Big Two River”,and aims to explore the application of post/impressionist techniques therein in terms of color selection,landscape depiction and storytelling,as well as artistic effects and aesthetic connotations thus produced.To start with,Hemingway skillfully presents complicated and varied colors of objects in different light effects,focuses on the transmutation and reconciliation of perceived colors with a visual style to create unique scene impression and reveals the fictional characters’ inner conflicts through the alternation of real and impressionistic scenes.Moreover,when depicting landscapes,Hemingway draws extensively upon Paul Cézanne—the use of a series of planes cut across by a diagonal line for depth and structural development,careful delineation of even the most distant mountains and ridges,as well as the emphasis upon volumes of space with the use of simple geometrical forms.Consequently,a real-symbolic vision is presented to readers.On the one hand,the dual vision reflects the reality and makes the scene simple,concise,vivid and full of tension;on the other hand,it affects the characters’ inner world and plays a significant role in characterization.Lastly,Hemingway employs impressionist techniques to compress and omit details,fuse character contour into background color and highlight subjective consciousness and spiritual world of characters in an objective mode of expression.In other words,the theme of Hemingway’s work is not wrought through the ups and downs of plot,but through highlighting characters’ special feelings and impressions of the world.By that means,we can appreciate his concision and omission in narration,objective depiction in scene,and simple as well as vivid character sketch.With the present study,the author attempts to gain insight into Hemingway’s literary aesthetic by investigating the visual impressionist devices applied in his works.Besides,the analysis of post/impressionist features is bound to enhance the implication and connotation of Hemingway’s works,display the deep-layered humanity and cultural values of the texts,and enrich the interpretations of their unique style.