modes of impressionism

7/28/2019 Modes of Impressionism

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GENRE XXXiX - summER 2006 - 203-228. COPYRiGHT 2007 BY THE uNi-VERsiTY OF OKLAHOmA. ALL RiGHTs OF REPRODuCTiON iN ANY FORmREsERVED.

Mo d e s o f L i t e r a r y iM p r e s s i o n i s M

ri c h a r d M. Be r r o n g , Ke n t st a t e Un i v e r s i t y

The ter lterary preon ha becoe oethng of a floatng g-nfer. The frt to e t, late nneteenth-centry crtc ch a Ferdnand Br-

netre, defned t n ter of t panterly naeake. more recent cholar have

often preferred to defne t n other ter, however. John G. Peter, for exaple,

n h recent tdy of preon n the work of Joeph Conrad, de

parallel wth ipreont pantng altogether, begnnng h tdy by declar-

ng that i pot a ch needed defnton of lterary preon baed pon

phloophcal grondng rather than pon the val art. in th way, i hope to

deontrate lterary preon broad power and gnfcant nflence andby o dong arge fora much more important role for th oveent n lterary

htory than generally accorded t (, epha added).

Peter wordng, a ch ore portant role, ake t clear that for h

coonalte wth ipreont art are le preve than phloophcal

e. Argng that Conrad technqe repreent the way han beng

obtan knowledge (2), he goe on, n the body of h onograph, to tdy the

Englh novelt phloophcal nvetgaton nto epteologcal procee

For a ore recent exaple of th, ee Helt A. Hatzfeld, Literature Through Art: A NewApproach to French Literature. mara Elabeth Kronegger, n her treate on Literary Impression-ism, alo often envon lterary preon a fnctonng lke t panterly naeake. see, forexaple, her chapter on preontc hero (5-67), who, for her, t be pave receptor of thetl pt ot by the world arond the becae ipreont panter claed that ther canvaerepreented nanalyzed (.e., pave) frt preon of the world arond the. in an eay on theGoncort brother, who are often cted a the great preont novelt, Pal Borget decrbedthe protagont n ther novel n a lar fahon (57-80). We wll coe back to th e laterwhen conderng the dfference between the ipreont artt (alleged) way of reactng to hodel/otf and the way he hope vewer wll react to h fnhed work of art.


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(2). For Peter, Conrad preon aw all phenoena flterng throgh

the ed of concone at a partclar te and place, thereby repreentng

knowledge a an ndvdal rather than a nveral experence (3).

Th epha on the way phenoena are receved by an ndvdal con-

cone wa, f not the phloophcal grondng, then at leat the concep-

tal nderpnnng of ipreont art a well. A marce E. Chernowtz noted

year ago n h very fne tdy of Prot preon, one of the ot vtal

charactertc of pctoral ipreon . . . the epha on aconceptal

enaton. . . . Th ntantaneo frt preon nvolve the reacton whch

experenced before the ntellect ha had te to ntervene and nterpret thng

n conventonal, ratonal, caal ter. . . .2 The ipreont artt render h

bject a a val llon perceved drng the plt econd of th frt pre-

on and not a t actally accordng to h knowledge of t peranent color

and for (65-66), Peter phenoena flterng throgh the ed of con-

cone at a partclar te and place. Or, a art crtc John Canaday phraed

t, the preont doe not analye for bt only receve the lght reflected

fro that for onto the retna of h eye and eek to reprodce the effect of that

lght, rather than the for of the object reflectng t (82).3

stll, the dfference n eda of the two art for lead to a ajor dffer-ence here. if a panter chooeor at leat clato preent an ntantaneo

frt preon [that] nvolve the reacton whch experenced before the

ntellect ha had te to ntervene and nterpret thng n conventonal, ratonal,

caal ter, he cannot alo preent the beqent nterpret[on of] thng n

conventonal, ratonal, caal ter, what Peter refer to a the way han

beng obtan knowledge. A wrter can. she can how not only how an nd-

vdal frt perceve oethng bt alo how h nd beqently goe abot

akng ene of t, Peter epteologcal procee. more recent cholar

2 Early n h career monet, n Norandy on one of h pantng trp, wrote to fellow panter Fr-drc Bazlle: what i wll do here . . . wll ply be the expreon of what i yelf have felt. . . .The ore i ee, the ore i realze that people never dare to expre honetly what theyfeel (i, 425-26). monet correpondence nclded at the end of the varo vole of Danel Wldentenearler fve-vole cataloge raonne of the panter work. All tranlaton fro th and otherFrench text are y own.3 Thogh monet had enjoyed travelng wth Renor to othern France and italy when he went a atort, when he went there to pant he nted pon beng alone, not wantng oeone ele co-

ent (or work) to alter h own edate reacton to the ght. A he wrote to Drand-Rel, hdealer and an early chapon of ipreon: i nted only on gong there by yelf, o a tobe freer wth y preon. it alway bad to work wth oeone ele (ii, 234; he had wrttenthe ae thng to Drand-Rel two week earler a well: ii, 232).

204 GENRE


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wrtng on lterary preon, often nflenced by phenoenologt lke

marce merlea-Ponty, have choen to center ther defnton of t on th ec-

ond capacty, n the proce dtnghng lterary preon fro rather

than lkenng t to t panterly conterpart. Th Peter foce h defnton on

the way han beng obtan knowledge and xty year before h Chernow-

tz, qotng Prot on me de svgn, declared that the ipreont order of

preentaton [n lteratre ] howng thng n the order n whch we perceve

the, rather than frt explanng the n ter of ther cae (69).4

A Peter rghtly pont ot, th concern wth the order n whch we per-

ceve thng rather than wth the thng to be perceved dtnghed pre-

ont lteratre fro what had coe before, n whch,

whether oncent or nononcent, [the] narrator organze phenoena othat the reader experence an ordered extence. Oncent narrator organze

phenoena and provde the reader wth a breadth of nforaton that nacce-ble n realty [at leat to an ndvdal obervng a cene whle that cene take

place]. slarly, the nononcent narrator alo edate the epteologcalproce. Even thogh they are not oncent, frt-peron or lted thrd-per-on narrator tll ply organzng technqethat , rather than preentng

phenoena a the bject actally experence the, they organze that nfor-aton nto a coherent chroncle throgh the narrator reflecton. (24)

Preentng thng n the order n whch we perceve the, rather than

frt explanng the n ter of ther cae wa therefore very defntely a

defnng featre of lterary preon, one that dtnghed t fro prev-

o tyleeven f, a Prot note, certan wrter lke me de svgn and

Dotoevky had oete ed t before. To lt one defnton of lterary

preon exclvely to th narratve technqe, however, whle d-

ng coparon wth t o extreely well-known and -loved panterly nae-

ake nnecearly retrctve and olatng. The panterly qalte rean, for

the general pblc, the hallark of ipreon, and we do nether lterary

preon nor lterary crtc any favor by ntng that the forer n

no way what the general pblc wold lke and expect t to be. Peter explan

that he doe o becae the coparon wth pantng ha led to too any

athor beng clafed a preont (3). i do not ee why th n telf wold

poe a proble, bt t tre that oe cholar wrtng on lterary preon-

4 For the orgnal of the paage Chernowtz qote, ee: marcel Prot, A la recherche du temps

perdu i, 653. Elewhere Prot narrator reark: me de svgn, lke Eltr, lke Dotoevky,rather than preentng thng n ther logcal order, .e., by begnnng wth the cae, how frtthe effect, the llon that trke (iii, 378), cted n Rth moer, Limpressionnisme franais:Peinture-Littrature-Musique (20).

mODEs OF LiTERARY imPREssiONism 205


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n ter of ipreont pantng have defned the latter o broadlyn

ter of t bject atter, for exaple, whch not one of t dtnghng

featrethat they have gone on to decrbe a very dvere grop of lterary

work a preont, at whch pont the ter loe any efl pecfcty.5

Jt a Peter foce on the tyltc expreon of epteologcal concern

that dtnghed preontc lteratre fro t predeceor, o f we lt

coparon wth ipreont pantng to thoe eleent that dtnghed the

latter fro what cae before we can retan a pecfcty of defnton neceary

for eanngfl age. Th defnton ay not alway be phloophcal, bt n

howng how an athor cold go abot tranferrng panterly technqe to wrt-

ng t no le nteretng and dtnctve, and ay well erve a a efl way of

preentng certan lterary work to the large pblc already enaored of ipre-

ont pantng.

Here Perre Lot 886 aterpece, Pcheur dIslande iceland Fher-

an, prove partclarly efl. The fact that n h prevo work Lot had

repeatedly decrbed the cene he wa preentng a a tablea deontrate

how conco he wa of pantng a he contrcted h narratve.6 Havng td-

ed art n Par whle he wa there n 866-7 preparng for the Naval Acadey

entrance exa, a perod when the ipreont were howng eacape, andhavng begn h pblhng career a an lltrator, Lot wa well-eqpped

to tranfer the ipreont nnovaton to wrtng.7 That Andr sar, the

dtnghed poet and cltral crtc, went o far a to declare that Far ore

than sley, Clade monet, or the Goncort brother, Lot wa the great pre-

ont (22), how how well he dd o. Followng throgh on the plcaton

of val ipreon, oreover, Lot alo, lke Flabert and the Goncort

brother before h, created forPcheur dIslande a tyle that eet ore

recent cholar non-panterly, phloophcally-orented defnton of lterary

preon. The relt a good odel for the deontraton of both defn-

ton of the ter, one that how the varety of way n whch a wrter can adapt

5 A ha often been rearked, the bject wa of lttle or no portance to ipreont lke monet.Enzo Caraach, for exaple, noted: ipreon epted the object of all atonoo real-tyat any rate, of all portancefavorng ntead t bjectve percepton and t pctoral repreen-taton (280).6 There are repeated e of the word tablea to decrbe a cene nLe Mariage de Loti The mar-rage of Lot (880) andMon frre Yves my Brother Yve (883).7 On eacape n nneteenth-centry French pantng and partclarly ipreont pantng, ee, forexaple: Jlet Wlon-Barea, Davd Degener,Manet and the Sea. On Lot a an lltrator, ee: C.Weley Brd,Pierre Loti, correspondant et dessinateur 1872-1889; Clade Farrre, Cent dessins dePierre Loti.

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to langage what the general pblc already know and love n ipreont

pantng (that pecfc to t) whle at the ae te deontratng how he,

takng advantage of poblte pecfc to langage, can pre the epteo-

logcal plcaton of the ipreont aethetc n way not avalable to her

panterly colleage.8

Jae J. Krchke, n h tdy of Henry Jaelke Conrad a Lot adrer

explan that thogh we ay thnk of ipreon n ter of oft, vage tnt

and patel, the ipreont actally ed trong, pre color: the ipre-

ont tended to apply ther brhwork n looe toche and coa troke of

nxed color (a technqe whch alo tend to leave to the eye of the beholder

the tak of ynthe) (8, 9). A Canaday reark wth regard to monet n

partclar, fro a lttle dtance the . . . dfferent tnt and color wthn ngle

area tend to dappear a ndvdal troke. The eye xe the and n dong

o create color wth ore vbraton, ore parkle, than wold have been po-

ble f the varo red or green or ble or pnk had been xed on the palette

and appled n large area n the conventonal way or plled together by blend-

ng on the canva (83).

A wrter can do th a well. in one of h decrpton of the North Atlantc,

decrpton n whch the athor ake h ot extenve foray nto ipre-ont pantng, Lot wrte that dan ce cel tr covert, tr pa, l y avat

et l de dchrre, coe de perce dan n de, par o arrvaent de

grand rayon colerdargent rose there were gahe here and there n that

very overcat, very thck ky, lke openng n a doe, throgh whch arrved

broad raypink silvern color (i:).9 When a tor tart at ea, the wnd tra-

at r le lant ror de den dn bleu vert traced on the hnng rror

blue green drawng (i:6). The frt te the feale protagont, Gad mvel,

eet the fheran Yann Gao, ne grande bre doet, q tat leve

8 Chernowtz aw the vale of both approache to the tdy of lterary preon n h exana-ton of the work of Lot yonger conteporary and adrer, marcel Prot. On one hand, he pont-ed ot the larte n the e of for, color, and lght betweenA la recherche du temps perdu insearch of Lot Te and the pantng of Clade monet and other ipreont artt whoe workProt had adred; on the other, recognzng, a Prot helf wrote, that ipreont pant-ng wa baed on the dea of ntrodcng affect before explanng ther cae (4-42), he alofoced on the way Prot often began decrpton of object or cene wth the percevable affectbefore provdng an explanaton of what wa behnd the.9 A tradtonal n Lot cholarhp, nce the chapter n h novel are o hort and nce there are

o any dfferent edton of the, not to enton o any dfferent Englh tranlaton ofPcheurdIslande (i cont even, everal of whch went throgh ltple edton), reference wll be to partand chapter nber rather than to page nber n a pecfc edton. A alway, all tranlaton ofthe novel and other French text are y own.



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pendant la proceon [relgee], avat e par terre de raeax de b et

jet r le cel de tentregris noir a trong Wetern breeze that had coe p

drng the [relgo] proceon had cattered boxwood branche on the grond

and thrown grey blacktapetre acro the ky (i:4). sylvetre moan, another

fheran, avat gard e yex denfant, dn gris bleu, q taent extre-

ent dox et to naf had retaned h chld grey blue eye, whch were

extreely oft and copletely nnocent (i:). When Yvonne moan, sylvetre

grandother, bd h farewell before h departre for ltary ervce n Vet-

na, longtep qelle pt, longtep qelle dtnga cette fore bleu-

noirq tat encore on pett-fl, elle le vt de yex a long a he cold,

a long a he dcerned that blue-blackfor that wa tll her grandon, he fol-

lowed h wth her eye (ii:8); etc.0

stll, wherea the vewer of an ipreont canva, tandng at a ff-

cent dtance, not aware of the jxtapoed trong, pre color bt only of

the ynthe of the that h nd perfor, ch jxtapoton n lteratre

ay leave trace of ther orgnal coponent. Th ay explan why Lot alo

blend color helf, ng the ffx -tre (-h) rather than alway leavng

the ynthe to the reader a h panterly conteporare cold do. Decrbng

fhng boat at ea that gather to receve new fro hoe, he note that lerpette alegristres apparaaent partot ther lttlegreyish wng appeared

everywhere (i:6) or, peakng of the chapel n Por Even, that n e lchen

gristre, avec e tche dn jane ple de ofre, covrat le perre, le

branche noee, et le ant en grant q e tenaent dan le nche d r

the ae greyish lchen, wth t pale lphr-yellow plotche, covered the

tone, the knotty branche, and the grante ant that tood n the nche n the

wall (ii:3). A a tor begn n the North Atlantc, lea, verdtre anten-

ant, tat de pl en pl zbre de bave blanche. . . . Le lae e faaent

tojor pl hate, pl folleent hate, et portant elle taent dchqete

ere, on en voyat pendre de grand labeax verdtres the water, whch

wagreenish now, wa ore and ore trped wth whte foa. . . . The wave

roe p ever hgher, nanely hgher, and yet they got lahed ore the ore

they dd o, one cold ee hge greenish hred of the hangng (ii:). Earler,

le cel tat covert dn grand vole blanchtre the ky had been covered

0 in h book-length tdy of the novel, Lo Bartho, the tatean trned lterary cholar, ctedoe of thee exaple a proof that Perre Lot had . . . the eye of a panter. . . . He ddnt redceall the dfferentgreys, or all the blues, or all theyellows, or all the whites, to one. He knew ther var-ety and he reprodced t (298).

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wth a hge whitish vel (i:6); later, at the end of a fhng eaon, fog et n

and le objet tr rapproch apparaaent pl crent o cette lre

fade et blanchtre the object that were very cloe appeared ore tarkly n

th dll, whitish lght (iii:9). Gad ntdated by Yann, wth h regard

perbe et n pe faroche; ce prnelle brne, lgreent fave, corant tr

vte r lopale bleutre de e yex prod and oewhat feroco look, thoe

brown, lghtly wld ppl ovng very fat n the bluish opal of h eye (i:4).

When sylvetre de, the Breton n, e tenant pl hat dan n cel bleutre,

. . . clarat dne doce lre blanche la grandre Yvonne, q travallat

codre, a r a porte keepng hgher p n a bluish ky, . . . lt h grand-

other, Yvonne, who wa workng on her ewng, ttng at her front door, wth

a oft whte lght (iii:2); etc. Yve Le Hr, qotng th lat exaple, rearked:

Notce thee adjectve, whch deateralze any perceptal enaton that

too clear (54).

soete, dong oethng ipreont panter ay have dreaed of

bt cold not acheve, Lot even create color that cannot be defned n ter

of thoe we already know. When Yann, havng learned of sylvetre death,

look ot at the ea arond h, la er, pendant on repo ytrex et on

oel, e dlat o les teintes discrtes qui nont pas de nom the ea,drng t ytero ret and leep, hd nderdiscreet shades of color that have

no name (iii:9; epha added).2

Another qalty that dtnghe ipreont pantng a partclar

foc on and e of lght; a Chernowtz noted, n ipreont art t lght

that becoe the an character, the an bject (50).3 Panter who had

nothng to do wth ipreon have devoted conderable attenton n ther

work to lght, of core; one thnk edately of Rebrandt, and there are

certanly other. ipreont panter had a partclar foc here, however;

they were often ore concerned wth reprodcng the effect lght ha on object

than wth the object theelve. A Dna sonntag ha wrtten, The ood of a

Prevo tde of lterary preon have often foced on abtracton of color; a Cher-nowtz noted, for exaple, wrter lke Flabert and the Goncort brother convert adjectve ntoabtract btantve (59). Th very rare nPcheur dIslande.2 monet, tryng to pant Holland jt a Pcheur dIslande wa appearng n ntallent, wroteto h frend Dret that the Dtch contryde wa enogh to ake a poor panter crazy; t cannot

be conveyed wth or poor color (letter of 30 Aprl, 886; ii, 274). The paage fro PcheurdIslande jt qoted appeared nLa Nouvelle Revue a few day later.3 Whle n Bordghera to pant n 884, monet wrote to Alce Hoched: i wrack y bran to pta ch of th lght a i can n y pantng (ii, 247).



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oent, evoked by qalte of lght, wa of greater portance to thee panter

than the prece developent of detal n ervce of an objectve repreentaton

of thng (88).

There a lot of attenton to lght n Pcheur dIslande, certanly, and fro

the very otet of the novel. The econd paragraph, decrbng the nteror of

the Marie and notng that the hatch cloed, proptly goe on to dentfy the

orce of the lght that llnate the fheren: ctat ne velle lape -

pende q le clarat en vacllant t wa an old hangng lap that lt the

whle wayng back and forth (i:; one thnk n partclar of monet facna-

ton wth treblng lght a early a the Grenollre pantng, La Grenol-

lre or Bather at la Grenollre, 869 Wldenten 34-35).4 When the

hatch open and Yann enter, par ce covercle n ntant entrovert, cette

ler ple q tat entre reeblat ben celle d jor. . . . ctat ben

coe ne ler de olel, coe ne ler crpclare renvoye de tr

lon par de ror ytrex throgh that oentarly partally-opened

hatch the ever o pale gler that had entered really reebled the gler

of daylght. . . . t wa ndeed lke a gler of nlght, lke a net gler,

ent back fro very far away by ytero rror (bd). Whle, a n the

frt exaple, Lot oete decrbe drect lght, whch not partclarlyipreontcthogh at leat t treble, he very often, a n the econd,

how a preoccpaton wth reflected or ndrect llnaton. in th repect he

once agan reprodce a pecfc concern of the ipreont who, a Canaday

rearked (82), were le ntereted n depctng object theelve than the

play of lght off the.

Later n the frt chapter a the n begn to re, Lot note that

Les heures passaient monotones, et, dans les grandes rgions vides du dehors,

lentement la lumire changeait ; elle semblait maintenant plus relle. Ce quiavait t un crpuscule blme, une espce de soir dt hyperbore, devenait

prsent, sans intermde de nuit, quelque chose comme ne arore, qe to leror de la er refltaent en vage trane roe. . .

The hor paed n a onotone fahon, and, n the great epty regon of theotdoor, lowly the lght changed; t now eeed ore real. What had beena colorle net, ort of a hyperborean er evenng, now becae, wth-ot any nght nterlde, oethng lke a dawn that all the mirrors of the seareflected back in formless pink trails. (bd; epha added)

4 For monet pantng i e the ttle and nber n Wldenten reved edton of h catalogeraonne,Monet(n.p.: Tachen, n.d.), 4 vol.

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When the cene hft to Papol, Lot decrbe Gad lookng ot her

wndow at the town qare: la jene flle, tat rete ae pr de a fentre,

regardant r le grant de r les reflets jaunes du couchant the yong

woan had reaned eated near her wndow, watchng on the grante facade

of the wall the yellow reflections of the setting sun (i:3; epha added). The

prevoly-qoted paage that peak of ndefnte color alo peak of ndef-

nte lght: l ne faat e pa abolent nt. Ctat clar fableent, par

un reste de lumire, qui ne venait de nulle part t want even altogether nght.

it wa weakly lt, by a remnant of light, that came from nowhere (iii:9; epha-

added); etc.

Thogh Lot facnaton ally wth th preontc ndrect or oft

lght, when h tory ove to the Far Eat and the volence of war he change

the llnaton accordngly. sylvetre wonded drng a krh n a rce

paddy n Vetna. A he retrn toward France on a hoptal hp and beg that

a porthole be opened o that he can have oe freh ar,

il entra de la lumire seulement, de lblouissante lumire rouge. Le soleilcouchant apparaissait lhorizon avec une extrme splendeur, dans la dchiru-re dun ciel sombre; sa lueur aveuglante se promenait au roulis, et il clairaitcet hpital en vacillant, comme une torche que lon balance.

only lght entered, a dazzlng red lght. The ettng n appeared on the horzonn extree plendor, throgh a gah n the dark ky; t blndng lght oved nync wth the rollng of the hp, and t lt p the hoptal whle wayng, lke atorch that oeone tryng to hold prght. (iii:2; note, agan, the treblng,nteady lght)

Becae t foced on captrng the effect of lght rather than depctng

object, ipreont pantng, epecally monet, alo dtnghed by

an abence of harp contor or for. A Chernowtz wrote, ipreont art

doe not draw the harp otlne of an object (56). Or, a mara Elabeth

Kronegger phraed t, vagene a ajor qalty of any preontc art

(7) nce, a Canaday noted, ipreont lke monet pred a progreve

deateralzaton of atter (87; recall Le Hr above-cted coent on the

effect of odfyng color adjectve wth the ffx -tre/-ish).5

5 monet contned to pre the breakdown of otlne and for throghot h career and o hapedthe general pblc dea of ipreont pantng. soe of the other ipreont backed awayfro th poton, however, retrnng to the e of odel and otlne and payng greater attentonto for. i thank y colleage n art htory, Carol sal, for rendng e of th.



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in Pcheur dIslande there a facnaton wth ndefnte for, ot

notably, agan, drng the cene n the North Atlantc. in the frt chapter, a

Yann and sylvetre fh for cod, the narrator reark that loel aat

pene ce q devat tre la er : . . . cela navait ni horizon ni contours. . . . en

hat, de nage informes et ncolore eblaent contenr cette lre latente

q ne explqat pa the eye barely caght what t have been the ea: . .

. it had neither a horizon nor outlines. . . . p n the ky, formless and colorle

clod eeed to contan a latent lght that cold not be explaned (i:; epha-

added). Later, when Yann, agan n the North Atlantc, learn that sylvetre

ha ded a the relt of a wond receved n Vetna, l y avat en hat des

nues diffuses; elle avaent pr des formes quelconques, parce qe le choe

ne pevent gre nen pa avor; dan lobcrt, elles se confondaient presque

por ntre qn grand vole p n the ky there were diffuse storm clouds;

they had taken some sort of form, becae thng really cant not have one; n

the darkne, they almost fused together to becoe jt one large vel (iii:9;

epha added); etc. One can ealy agne oe of monet foggy-ky rver

pantng, lke Hoe of Parlaent, Fog Effect (904; Wldenten 6) or

Ar of the sene near Gverny n the Fog (897; Wldenten 474).

ipreont pantng doe not ply depct object that theelve lackharp otlne, however; th featre not jt one of content. it alo blr the

otlne of all age by the natre of t tyle.6 Whle ch a tyle not partc-

larly dffclt to create wth pant, tranferrng t to langage not o obvo.

How ght a wrter go abot breakng down the age that word norally

evoke? Lot cae p wth one olton. Fllng h langage wth adverb lke

presque/alot, un peu/oewhat,plus ou moins/ore or le, odal verb lke

sembler/to ee,paratre/to appear,pouvoir/to be able to, devoir/to have to, and

non phrae lke une sorte de/knd of a, une espce de/a knd of, he created n

Pcheur dIslande a lngtc tyle that nderct the clarty of the age and

dea that any of h word wold norally convey.7 The frt chapter begn

6 Agan, th a very portant dtncton. it how the ipreont preented ther bjectatter, ther tyle, that wa new and dtnghng, not the bject atter telf (cf. Caraachprevoly-qoted reark, 280). in the ae ene, bject atter doe not defne an preontlterary work, depte what oe crtc have wrtten; tyle paraont.7 in a regrettably hort artcle, Henr scep qoted two e of thee odal verb and chrtenedthe the rhetorc of the ncertan (67-68). Thogh he dd not ndertake a yteatc tdy of

th rhetorc a i have done here, explanng that he dd not have the neceary te or pace(68), scep wa, i beleve, rght on the ark when he began h eay by declarng that, n fact, nPcheur dIslande . . . langage freqently deraled, a f, at te, the narrator wa refng tocollaborate wth the deon of real, n order better to take ot the lt of the ncertan (66).

22 GENRE


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wth a decrpton of the fheren below deck on the Marie, oewhere n the

North Atlantc:

ils taient cinq, aux carrures terribles, accouds boire, dans ne orte de

logis sombre qui sentait la saumure et la mer. . . . Dehors, ce devat tre la meret la nuit, mais on nen savait trop rien. . . . De grosses poutres passaient au-dessus deux,preqe toucher leurs ttes; et derrire leur dos, des couchettesqui eblaent creuses dans lpaisseur de la charpente souvraient commedes niches dun caveau pour mettre les morts.

there were fve of the, wth powerfl holder, elbow on the table, drnkng,n kind of a dark dwellng that elled of brne and the ea. . . . Otde musthavebeen the ea and the nght, bt one ddnt really know ch abot that. .. . Heavy bea paed above the, almost tochng ther head; and behnd

ther back, bnk that seemed to have been hollowed ot of the thckne ofthe wooden frae opened lke nche of a cave for corpe.

The tate of the Vrgn mary affxed to the wall tat un peu ancenne.

. . . Elle avait d coter pl dne ardente prre, de here dangoe

wasomewhatold. . . . she must have ltened to ore than one ardent prayer,

when en were dyng. A for the crew, le captane pouvaitavor qarante

an. . . . l paraissaientprover n vra ben-tre, an tap dan ler gte

obcr the captan couldhave been forty. . . . they seemedto feel a real well-

beng, croched lke that n ther dark lodgng. The cabn boy tat n pett

garon robte, la fgre ronde, un peu le con de to ce arn q taent

plus ou moins parent entre ex wa a robt yong boy, wth a rond face,

somewhatthe con of all thoe alor, who were more or less related to each

other. Otde, ce q avat t n crpcle ble, une espce de or dt

hyperbore, devenat prent, an nterde de nt, quelque chose comme

ne arore, qe to le ror de la er refltaent en vage trane roe

what had been a colorle net, sort ofa hyperborean er evenng, now

becae, wthot any nght nterlde,something like a dawn, that all the rror

of the ea reflected back n forle pnk tral. ung thee word and phrae

throghot th chapter and thoe that follow, Lot blr the age and dea

that h ed, word, wold norally evoke, ch a h ipreont con-

teporare dd by oftenng contor and otlne n ther pantng.

in creatng th verbal eqvalent of ipreont tyle, Lot wa ang at

ore than jt a lterary replcaton of h panterly conteporare val effect.

On Lot opnon of the Real/Natral beng practced by h conteporare, ee theacceptance peech he gave pon h entry nto the French Acadey (7 Aprl, 892), a peech thatperanently alenated Edond de Goncort.



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A he ple at one pont nPcheur dIslande and a he tate oewhat ore

drectly fve year later nLe Roman dun enfantThe story of a Chld (89),

th ipreont tyle wa an eental part of h lterary and arttc aethetc.

When, after learnng of sylvetre death n Vetna, Yann goe p on the

deck of the Marie and gaze at the clody North Atlantc ky, the text note:

Mais, en un point de ce ciel, trs bas, prs des eaux [the clouds] faisaientune sorte de marbrure plus distincte, bien que trs lointaine; n den o,coe trac par ne an dtrate; combinaison de hasard, non destine tre vue, et fugitive, prte mourir. --Et cela seul, dans tout cet ensemble,

paraissait signifier quelque chose; on et dit que la pense mlancolique,insaisissable, de tout ce nant, tait inscrite l; --et le yex fnaent par yfxer, an le volor.

Lui, Yann, mesure que ses prunelles mobiles shabituaient lobscuritdu dehors, il regardait de plus en plus cette marbrure unique du ciel; elle avait

forme de quelquun qui saffaisse, avec deux bras qui se tendent. Et prsentquil avait commenc voir l cette apparence, l l eblat que ce ft unevraie ombre humaine, agrandie, rendue gigantesque force de venir de loin.

P, dan on agnaton o flottaient ensemble des rves indicibleset les croyances primitives, cette ombre triste, effondre au bout de ce cielde tnbres, se mlait peu peu au souvenir de son frre mort, comme unedernire manifestation de lui. Il tait coutumier de ces tranges associationsdimages, comme il sen forme surtout au commencement de la vie, dans la

tte des enfants. . . Mais les mots, si vagues quils soient, restent encore tropprcis pour exprimer ces choses ; il faudraitcette lange ncertane q e parleqelqefo dan le rve, et dont on ne retent a rvel qe dngatqefragent nayant pl de en.

A contepler ce nage, l entat venr ne trtee profonde, angoe,plene dnconn et de ytre, qui lui glaait lme ;beacop ex qetot lhere, l coprenat antenant qe on pavre pett frre ne repara-trat jaa, jaa pl ; le chagrn, q avat t long percer lenvelopperobte et dre de on coer, y entrat prent jq plen bord. Il revoyaitla figure douce de Sylvestre, ses bons yeux denfant ; lide de lembrasser,quelque chose comme un voile tombait tout coup entre ses paupires, mal-

gr lui, --et dabord il ne sexpliquait pas bien ce que ctait, nayant jamaispleur dans sa vie dhomme. --Mais les larmes commenaient couler lourdes,rapides, sur ses joues ; et puis des sanglots vinrent soulever sa poitrine pro-

fonde.

Bt, n one part of that ky, very low, near the water [the clod] foredort of a ore dtnct arblng, thogh t wa very far away; a vague draw-ing, as if traced by a distracted hand; a chance arrangeent, not ntended forvewng, fgtve, ready to de away. And that alone, n all of that together,appeared to gnfy oethng; one wold have ad that the elancholy, el-ve thoght of all that nothngne wa ncrbed there; and ones eyes ended

up focusing on that, without wanting to.Yann, a h contantly ovng ppl got ed to the darkne of the ot-

door, looked ore and ore at that nqe arblng of the ky; t had the for

24 GENRE


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of oeone who nkng down, wth two ar that reach ot. And now thathe had begn to ee that appearance there, it seemed to him that t wa a realhan hadow, grown larger, ggantc becae t cae fro far away.

Then, in his imagination where drea that cold not be pt nto word

floated together wth prtve belef, that sad shadow, slumped at the bottomof that gloomy sky, became mixed little by little with the memory of his deadbrother[sylvetre], like a last manifestation of him. He wa acctoed tothee trange aocaton of age, ch a take hape epecally at the begn-nng of lfe, n the nd of chldren. . . Bt word, no atter how vage theyare, are tll too prece to expre thee thng; yo wold need the ncertanlangage that poken, oete, n drea, of whch, pon wakng, peopleonly retan engatc fragent that no longer have any eanng.

Looking at that cloud, he felt a deep, anguish-filled sadness, full of theunknown and the mysterious, that froze h ol; he understood now, muchbetter than before, that his poor young brother would never reappear, neveragain; sorrow, which had been slow to pierce his hearts hardy, hard envelop,now filled it entirely. He aw sylvetre weet face agan, h good chldeye; at the thoght of kng h, oethng lke a vel ddenly fell acroh eyeld, depte h, and at frt he coldnt really explan to helf whatt wa, never havng cred n all the year he had been a an. Bt the teartarted to flow, thckly, rapdly, down h cheek; and then ob hook h

broad chet. (iii:9; epha added)

in decrbng th one bank of clod a a vage drawing, a f traced by a

dtracted hand, Lot eqate t to an artwork. Becae t ee to be an nten-

tonal creaton, t therefore appeared to gnfy oethng. indeed, n th cae

one wold have ad that the elancholy, elve thoght of all that nothng-

ne wa ncrbed there. Becae t not clearly drawn, however, the oberver

fnd herelf focng on t, akng an effort to ndertand t: yor eye ended

p focng on that, wthot wantng to.

The relt of the vewer concentraton on the nclear artwork not co-

prehenon of the artt ntent, however, that elancholy thoght. Rather,

the age, becae t appear ncoplete, cae the vewer nd to dredgep oethng of t own to coplete the age o a to ake t coprehenble-

-Yann eory of h dead brother sylvetre--forcng h to confront the

dredged-p eleentYann fnally creand thereby helpng her ndertand t:

he ndertood now, ch better than before, that h poor yonger brother

wold never reappear, never agan. Not only doe Yann coe to accept the

realty and fnalty of sylvetre death, whch he had refed to confront when

frt learnng of t (iii:7), a well a h own feelng wth regard to t; he alo

coe to ndertand the reaon behnd thee feelng: An Yann redotat

por l-e dtre pr par la er, coe cela anantat davantage, --et



14/26

la pene qe sylvetre tat ret l-ba, dan cette terre lontane den deo,

rendat on chagrn pl depr, pl obre And o Yann feared beng

taken by the ea helf, a f that pt yo even deeper nto oblvon, and the

thoght that sylvetre had reaned there, n that faraway land on the other de

of the world, ade h orrow darker, ore hopele (bd). All th fro vew-

ng one very preont drawng.8

in cae any of h pre-Prot reader ed the aethetc plcaton of

th paage, Lot lad the ot n a ore traghtforward fahon fve year later

n h e-atobographcal novel, Le Roman dun enfantwhch, not rpr-

ngly, Prot wold qote verbat n h correpondence (Correspondance i,

36). Early n that novel the narrator, Perre, recont how, at the age of fve or

x, he ade two drawng, the Happy dck and the unhappy dck. Lke

ot chldren art they were bacally ketche, bt th very ncopletene

gve the, for Perre, great vale. He explan:

Jai souvent remarqu du reste que des barbouillages rudimentaires trac pardes enfants, des tableaux aux couleurs fausses et froides, peuventpreonnerbeaucoup plus que dhabiles ou gniales peintures, par cela prcisment quils

sont incomplets etqon et condt, en le regardant, y ajoter lle choede o-e, lle choe orte de trfond nond et quaucun pinceaune saurait saisir.

i have often notced, for that atter, that rdentary crbblng drawn bychldren, pctre wth fale and cold color, can impress ch ore than kll-fl or aterfl pantng, precely becae they are ncoplete and you areled, as you look at them, to add to them a thousand things of your own, a thou-

sand things that rise up from your unplumbed depths and that no pantbrhcold captre. (iX; epha added)

snce Perre had jt lnked pantng and wrtng at the begnnng of the pre-

vo chapter, peakng n one phrae of thoe do por ben pendre (avec

de coler o avec de ot) gfted for pantng well (wth color or word)

(Viii), the applcablty of th aethetc to wrtng ee clear. Lot here tate

qte drectly that he vale the apparently ncoplete, nfnhed work of art

becae t cae the vewer or reader nd to call p eleent fro t own

depth n an effort to coplete and thereby ake ene of what t ee.9 Th

8 it eay to ee why Lot wa one of Prot favorte athor. Th one cene n PcheurdIslande contan n a few paragraph the aethetc that the yonger wrter wold develop at far

greater length nA la recherche du temps perdu, partclarly n the ddle ecton of the lat vole,Le Temps retrouv Te Reganed.9 The paage nclde a etaphorcal depcton of thoght eergng fro the bconco thankto an arttc creaton: word prnted on the other de of the paper on whch Perre had drawn the

26 GENRE


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what happen to Yann when he vew the vage drawng n the clod-covered

North Atlantc ky, and to the reader when he deal wth Pcheur dIslande

ntentonally declarfyng tyle. it nteretng to note that n both work Lot

expree h aethetc n ter of pantng. it alo worth notng that n both

cae what the vewerand hence, alo, the readerbrng to the artwork cannot

be captred by an artt: Lot wrte of Yann reacton that word, no atter

how vage they are, are tll too prece to expre thee thng, and reark

that the vewer of chldren drawng on p thng that no pantbrh

cold captre.

in th ene, the vewer/reader of an preont work, pctoral or lter-

ary, very dfferent fro t creator (at leat a monet decrbed h pantng to

the pblc; the realty wa oewhat dfferent). if the creator work to captre an

ntal percepton of oe otve wthot lettng h nd ntervene and nter-

pret thng . . . accordng to h knowledge of [ther] peranent color and for

(Chernowtz 65-6; recall monet dere to pant free of anyone ele reacton

to h otf), the vewer/reader of an preont work, faced wth t appar-

ent ncopleton, wll, even f only bconcoly, ake an effort to coplete

the work o that t ake ene. if Yann doe th once a he look at a clody

North Atlantc ky, Gad mvel doe t contantly when faced wth Yannavodance of her, or even later, after ther arrage, when he receve an eo-

tonle letter fro h (V:3). she alway copletng what he ee or read

o that t ake ene to her. One ght therefore arge that he a fgraton

of the vewer/reader of preont art n the artwork telf, what the French

call a e en abe, a devce that Lot wold have known fro the work

of panter lke Rebrandt and Velaqez, to whch he refer n other wrtng.

Th very dfferent fro oe crtc preentaton of pave, non-analytcal

oberver a the qnteence of preont characterzaton (ee footnote ),

and gget that there ore than one ort of preont character.

The ipreont, and n partclar monet, dtnghed theelve fro

ther predeceor by, n Robert Roenbl word, ntenfyng the nqe-

ne of the artt-oberver a the only orce of val trth abot the external

world (36). At leat n prncple, ipreont panter pt on a canva only

what they theelve cold ee, and fro a partclar locaton. The lterary art-

nhappy dck bleed throgh to coplete the work. Th , of core, all hghly evocatve ofProt wrtng on the fncton of art and nvolntary eory. For larte betweenLe romandun enfantand A la recherche du temps perdu on th e, ee Berrong Ch. 8.



16/26

t can do th a well. in Pcheur dIslande, Lot gget the ae aethetc

by preentng not a contno narratve offered throgh an oncent de-

boded narrator ch a one fnd n the tradtonal novel of h predeceor

and conteporare, bt rather a ere of dcontno cene, each of whch

contrcted a f vewed fro the perpectve of one han wtne who,

lke monet artt-oberver, preent n jt one dentfable place.20 When t

neceary to provde nforaton abot what happen between ch oberved

cene, Lot generally rele on peronalzed flahback. A a relt, th nfor-

aton enter the text not a the ateporal reark of a non-localzed narrat-

ng voce, a n tradtonal narratve, bt a the thoght of the oberver of the

oent, thereby retanng the nqene of the oberver a the only orce of

trth abot the external world.

For exaple: Part i, Chapter 6 throgh Part ii, Chapter depct Yann and

sylvetre n the North Atlantc. Part ii, Chapter 2 open back n Brttany wth

Gad, who we have not een nce Part i, Chapter 5, when he wa n her

roo n Papol, walkng to Por Even. There no connectng narratve fro

an oncent narrator explanng how ch te ha elaped nce we lat aw

Gad, what he ha done nce then, why he walkng to Por Even, etc. Only

a the chapter progree doe Lot e her thoght to brdge the gap betweenth cene and or lat enconter wth her. When we next ee sylvetre, n h

barrack n Bret at the begnnng of ii:5, Lot e the character eore to

brdge the gap nce we lat aw h, n Gad recollecton, leavng Papol

for the ervce (ii:2). When we next ee h, on a hp alng to the Far Eat

(ii:9), the athor eploy the yong alor thoght to depct what happened

to h after h te n Bret (ii:5-8), etc.

Gven th epha on pecfc ndvdal concone and t percepton

of the world, t not rprng that Lot took advantage of the teporal qalty

of h ed, langage, to draw h reader attenton to the epteologcal

procee pled by the ipreont aethetc that Peter and other recent

cholar have declared to be the defnng qalty of lterary preon. Rath-

er than ply decrbng or explanng thng a they are, a only an oncent

narrator can do, Lot fll h novel wth ntantaneo, aconceptal frt pre-

20 Jle Leatre noted a lar narratve trctre n the preontc novel of the Goncort

brother, where, he oberved, the acton often broken p nto all pece, ct p nto tableabetween whch there are rather large epty pace (5, qoted n Caraach 283). Caraach(296) decrbe th effect n the Goncort aterpece, Germanie Lacerteux (865), whoe ev-enty often hort chapter are not alway ntally lnked.

28 GENRE


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on, ch a concone experence when n contact wth the real world,

and then ha h reader follow how a partclar concone ntervene and

nterpret thng n conventonal, ratonal, caal ter (Chernowtz 66).

When Gad arrve at the Gao hoe n Por Even, hopng to eet the eva-

ve Yann, he at one pont goe ptar to ee the newly-added econd floor.

sddenly. . . Un pas un peu lourd dans lescalier la fit tressaillir.

Non, ce ntait pas Yann, mais un homme qui lui ressemblait malgr sescheveux dj blancs, qui avait presque sa haute stature et qui tait droit commelui: le pre Gaos rentrant de la pche.

. . . A oewhat heavy foottep on the tarcae ade her treble.No, t want Yann, bt a an who reebled h depte h whte har,

who wa alot a tall a he, and who tood traght lke h: h father mr.Gao, cong back fro fhng. (ii:3)

Rather than tart wth fact that Gad, gven her locaton and experence,

cold not knowGad heard mr. Gao foottep on the tar or oethng

to that effectthe paage begn wth only what he cold perceve fro where

he , an aral preon: a oewhat heavy foottep on the tarcae. it then

follow Gad reacton to th preonhe treble, obvoly ang atfrt that Yann ha arrvedove on to the oent when he ee the an who

ade the noe, and fnally convey the conclon that he draw fro what he

ee: th an reeble Yann bt older; he t therefore be Yann father.

The fact of the atter cold have been expreed ch ore ccnctly, bt

Lot clearly ntereted, ntead, n preentng phenoena a the bject act-

ally experence the.

One of Lot favorte rhetorcal devce repetton to hghlght a dffer-

ence. Near the end of the novel, when Gad ha been watng for onth wth-ot word for Yann to retrn fro the ea, he agan hear foottep cong fro

otde her range of von.

Des pas dhomme tout coup, des pas prcipits dans le chemin! A pareilleheure, qui pouvait passer? Elle se dressa, remue jusquau fond de lme, soncoeur cessant de battre.

On sarrtait devant la porte, on montait les petites marches de pierre...Lui ! . . . Oh ! Joie du ciel, lui ! . . . On avait frapp, est-ce que ce pouvait

tre un autre ! . . . Elle tait debout, pieds nus; elle, si faible depuis tant de

jours, avait saut lestement comme les chattes, les bras ouverts pour enlacer lebien-aim. Sans doute la Lopoldine tait arrive de nuit, et mouille en facedans la baie de Pors-Even, --et lui, il accourait; elle arrangeait tout cela dans



18/26

sa tte avec une vitesse dclair. Et maintenant, elle se dchirait les doigts auxclous de la porte, dans sa rage pour retirer ce verrou qui tait dur. . .

--Ah ! . . . Et puis elle recula lentement, affaisse, la tte retombe sur lapoitrine. Son beau rve de folle tait fini. Ce ntait que Fantec, leur voisin. . .

sddenly a an foottep, hrred foottep on the path! At ch anhor, who cold be pang by? she at p, haken to the depth of her ol, herheart topped beatng. . .

soeone wa toppng at the front door, they were clbng the lttletone tep. . .

H! . . . Oh! Thank heaven, h! . . . They had knocked, cold t be any-one ele! . . . she wa tandng p, barefoot; o weak for o any day, he had

jped p qckly lke feale cat do, her ar open to clap the beloved. TheLeopoldine had probably arrved drng the nght, and dropped anchor acrofro the hoe n the bay off Por-Even, and he ran; he arranged all that nher nd wth the peed of lghtenng. And now, he wa tearng her fnger onthe nal n the door n her rage to draw the bolt, whch wa hard to open. . .

Ah! . . . And then he drew back lowly, nkng down, her head drop-png on her chet. Her beatfl adwoan drea wa over. it wa only Fan-tec, ther neghbor. . . (V:0)

Agan, Lot tart wth an aral preon, all Gad cold have experenced

fro nde the ht, ddenly a an foottep, hrred foottep on the path!,

and proceed to follow one concone analy of t.

The athor treat val preon the ae way. Chapter i:3 open a fol-

low:

A Paimpol, un beau soir de cette anne-l, un dimanche de juin, il y avaitdeux femmes trs occupes crire une lettre. . . .

Penches sur leur table, toutes deux semblaient jeunes; lune avait unecoiffe extrmement grande, la mode dautrefois; lautre, une coiffe toute

petite, de la forme nouvelle quont adopte les Paimpolaises: --Deux amou-reuses, et-on dit, rdigeant ensemble un message tendre pour quelque bel

Islandais.

Celle qui dictait--la grande coiffe--releva la tte, cherchant ses ides.Tiens! Elle tait vieille, trs vieille, malgr sa tournure jeunette, ainsi vue dedos sous son petit chle brun. Mais tout fait vieille: une bonne grandmredau moins soixante-dix ans. Encore jolie par exemple, et encore frache, avecles pommettes bien roses, comme certains vieillards ont le don de les con-

server. . . .Lautre, voyant que les ides ne venaient plus, stait mise crire soi-

gneusement ladresse. . . .Aprs, elle aussi releva la tte pour demander :

--Cest-il fini, grand-mre Moan?Elle tait bien jeune, celle-ci, adorablement jeune, une figure de vingt ans.

Trs blonde, --couleur rare en ce coin de Bretagne o la race est brune; trsblonde, avec des yeux dun gris de lin cils presque noirs. Ses sourcils, blonds

220 GENRE


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autant que ses cheveux, taient comme repeints au milieu dune ligne plusrousse, plus fonce, qui donnait une expression de vigueur et de volont. . . .

in Papol, one beatfl evenng that year, one snday n Jne, there

were two woen very by wrtng a letter. . . .Leanng over ther table, both of the eeed yong; one had an extree-

ly large coffe [a lace headpece that Breton woen wore], n the tyle of tegone by; the other, a very all coffe, n the new hape that Papol woenhave adopted: Two woen n love, one wold have ad, draftng a tendereage together for oe handoe North Atlantc fheran.

The one who wa dctatngthe large cofferaed her head, hntng fordea. What do yo know! she wa old, very old, depte her yothfl for a twa een fro behnd nder her lttle brown hawl. Very defntely old: a ncegrandother, at leat eventy year old. stll pretty, thogh, and tll healthy,wth nce pnk cheek, the way oe old people are lcky enogh to be able to

preerve the. . . .The other one, eeng that he want gettng any ore dea, had tarted

wrtng the addre, careflly. . . .After that, he alo raed her head to ak:Are yo done, grandother?she wa qte yong, th one, adorably yong, a twenty-year-old face.

Very blond, a rare color n that corner of Brttany, where the race ha brownhar; very blond, wth flax-grey eye nder alot black eyelahe. Her eye-

brow, a blond a her har, looked lke they had been repanted n the ddlewth a redder, darker lne that created an expreon of trength and wllpower.

. . . (i:3)

Th chapter cold have begn: Gad mvel and Yvonne moan were by

wrtng a letter to sylvetre. intead, a f we have jt arrved n the roo

orelve and are tandng oewhere behnd the two woen o that we cannot

ntally ee ther face, the two are at frt preented wthot nae. Only a the

cene nfold and they trn n or drecton do we learn how old they are and,

a f recognzng the, who they are. Th certanly a trkng exaple of the

nqene of the (artt)-oberver a the only orce of val trth abot theexternal world.

it dfferent fro the frt two exaple, however, where the percevng

and analyzng concone belong to a character we ee n the narratve (n

thoe cae, Gad mvel). in the thrd exaple we are tll retrcted to one

peron poble percepton and analy, bt th te t a peron who doe

not fgre n the tory. it a f we, or at leat the narrator, are phycally pre-

ent n one prece pot n Gad roo, whch a rearkably effectve way of

brngng to the reader attenton the way han beng obtan knowledge(Peter 2).



20/26

Lot open Chapter ii:7 n a lar way. Havng decrbed n the prevo

chapter sylvetre te n Bret watng to be hpped ot to indochna and h

refal to conort wth local prottte, the text begn:

Elle et n pe ancenne, on aoree! daent le atre, dex jorapr, en rant derrre l; cet gal, l ont lar de ben entendre tot dee.

il aaent de le vor, por la prere fo, e proener dan le rede Recovrance avec ne fee a bra, coe tot le onde, e penchantver elle dn ar tendre, l dant de choe q avaent lar tot fat doce.

une pette peronne la tornre aez alerte, ve de do; de jpe npe corte, par exeple, por la ode d jor; n pett chle brn, et negrande coffe de Papolae.

Elle a, pende on bra, e retornat ver l por le regarderavec tendree.Elle et n pe ancenne, laoree!il daent cela, le atre, an grande alce, voyant ben qe ctat ne

bonne velle grandre vene de la capagne.

That lover of h knd of old! the other ad, two day later, laghngbehnd h; t doent atter, they ee to get along well anyway.

They got a kck ot of eeng h walkng the treet of Recovrance wtha woan on h ar for the frt te, lke everyone ele, leanng toward her na tender fahon, tellng her thng that eeed to be qte weet.

A lttle peron wth a farly energetc for, een fro behnd; rather hortkrt, tre, conderng the latet fahon; a lttle brown hawl, and a great bgPapol coffe.

she, too, leanng on h ar, trned toward h fro te to te to lookat h wth tenderne.

That lover of h knd of old!The other ad that wthot real alce, eeng clearly that he wa a nce

old grandother who had coe fro the contry. (ii:7)

Not ntl the lat paragraph do we dcover that the woan on sylvetre

ar not a grlfrend or ore hort-ter feale copanon bt h grand-other Yvonne, who ha ade the trp fro Plobazlanec becae sylvetre

and h fellow alor were not granted leave to ay good-bye to ther fale at

hoe. Once agan we are lted to a pecfc, localzed concone perpec-

tve and percepton. Here a well the concone doe not appear to belong to

any dentfed character, thogh th te the reader cold agne t belongng

to oeone who ght actally be there, perhap one of the other alor n syl-

vetre nt. All for of thee exaple, lke o any other n the novel, draw

the reader attenton to the way han beng obtan knowledge rather than

ply to the knowledge telf. in addton, the freqent e of free ndrect d-

222 GENRE


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core to preent ch ental procee, a well a elewhere n the text, ha t

own preont effect: the ngnaled apparent hft n perpectve between

narrator and character blr the dtncton between the two.

Other te the ntal, aconceptal aral or val preon left nre-

olved, a n an ipreont pantng; we learn only what we wold perceve

f we were there, lookng on, wthot any beqent dcovery of the -

ng detal, what Rth moer, peakng of Lot prevo novel, Mon frre

Yves, referred to a trnng thng over to non-analyzed percepton (35), the

eence of monet ipreont aethetc and an eqally vald technqe n lt-

erary preon. soete th nvolve nor pont. in the frt chapter,

n a paage already cted, the text ay that the crew of theMarie paraaent

prover n vra ben-tre, an tap dan ler gte obcr eeed to feel a

real well-beng, croched lke that n ther dark lodgng, bt doe not go on to

nfor f they really dd. When Gad top at a chapel on the way to Por

Even and tart to read the coeoratve panel n the entrance, the narra-

tve tell that one plaqe eblat tre l dep de longe anne panel

eeed to have been there for any year (ii:3) bt doe not provde wth

any corroboratve nforaton. When sylvetre arrve at Port-sad on h way

to Vetna, h hp and all the other there engoffraent dan ne orte delong canal, trot coe n fo, q fyat en lgne argente dan lnfn de

ce able were wallowed p n ort of a long canal, narrow lke a dtch, that

fled n a lvery lne nto the nfntde of the and (ii:9). Thogh the reader,

better nfored than sylvetre, gee that th ort of a long canal t be

the sez, one of the arvel of nneteenth-centry French cvl engneerng, the

text, a f operatng throgh the nd of sylvetre or one of the other nedcated

eaen on board h hp, never provde that nforaton.2

2 in h eay on the Goncort brother, Pal Borget pont ot that ther tyle, often referred to apreontc,

rrond the character wth a decor een by an artt eye. . . . There . . ., n the percepton that [ot]people for of thng, a contno nffcency; the tre pantng of that le one that take nto

accont th nffcency of percepton. it ee to e that thoe novelt who are prarly preoccpedwth trancrbng the apect of lfe n a very careflly weghed proe do not ndertand th law. They evoke

an nteror, a contryde, a treet, wth the harpened agnaton of a wrter, bt the an who they pt

n that frae cold notsee n that fahon. (94)

Th certanly tre ofGerminie Lacerteux, where the fao ipreont chapter are recont-

ed fro one oberver pont of vew bt wth vocablary and a knowledge that none of the charac-ter preent cold pobly have had. Pal Valry crtczed the Goncort brother for th ae thng(64). A the paage regardng the ort of a long canaljt qoted and any other lltrate, Lotdd not cot that ort of ncontency nPcheur dIslande.



22/26

soete th panterly ipreon becoe central to the narratve

telf. in Part ii, Chapter 2, the Marie rn agrond on oethng whle nav-

gatng the Englh Channel; jt prevoly, the text had entoned that Yann

paraat avor beon de agter, por chaer de on eprt qelqe obe-

on appeared to need to ove arond, to chae oe obeon fro h

nd (ii:2). After ch effort by the crew the hp fnally break free. The text

ake clear that the grondng ha been a etaphorcal repreentaton of Yann

obeon, rearkng et du mme coup, la trtee dYann tat envole

aussi and Yann adne had flown away as well, as a result of the same exer-

tion (bd; epha added), bt t provde no explanaton for ether proble.

We know only what we cold ee f we were there. in the ae repect, Part iii,

Chapter preent the Marie enconter wth theReine Berthe and then pro-

vde the new that the latter wa detroyed at ea. The lat tor occrred three

week before the enconter, leavng the crew of the Marie to wonder , ce

atn-l, l navaent pont ca avec de trpa f, that ornng, they had

poken wth deaden (iii:). Agan, the text provde no reolton of ther

fear, no nforaton other than that avalable to the crew.

The ae tre of the novel central ytery: why, after havng hown o

ch ntal nteret n her, dd Yann pend the next two year avodng Gad?After he fnally propoe to her he agne all ort of reaon (iV:2, iV:5),

lke the vewer of an ipreont pantng tryng to ake t ake ene, bt

the narraton never offer any confraton. Chernowtz reark that Gtave

Flabert, an athor both Lot and Prot ch adred, alo often prefer to

gnore fact and to convey the conjectre of a character or of a ppoed

bytander (62). A a relt, trth becoe bordnate to percepton: A per-

on becoe the total of other people opnon whch he reflect. We do

not know what he per se (52). Chernowtz wa concerned wth Prot

Charle swann: n the early page ofA la recherche du temps perdu Prot

foce on how dfferent character ee swann fro very dfferent perpectve,

each thnkng, ncorrectly, that he or he know h n h entrety.22 Lot doe

not preent o any dfferent perpectve on Yann, bt nether doe he ever

reveal h ytery, a Gad refer to t. We ee how Gad explan h behav-

or bt we never learn f her explanaton concde wth the trth, jt a we

22 in the ae ene, Peter note of Conrad that throghot h wrtng, he reject attept to n-veralze trth and deontrate that han experence alway ndvdalzed (3).

224 GENRE


23/26

never learn on what the Marie wa tranded n the Englh Channel or whether

theReine Berthe he encontered later wa a ghot hp.

By focng on how ght perceve the world, rather than the world telf,

the ipreont foregronded the ene. monet wa probably happy to read

Ele Zola reacton to h (now lot) Boat Cong ot of the Port of Le

Havre (Wldenten 89), whch the wrter aw n the 868 salon: we hear the

ffled and pantng voce of the teahp, whch fll the ar wth t naeo

oke. i aw thoe raw color, i nhaled thoe alty ell (208). Here an

athor can do the ae thng ore ealy. inPcheur dIslande Lot foregrond-

ed ndvdal enory percepton by repeatedly akng the reader aware of ad-

tory and olfactory a well a val tl. We have already noted oe of the

reference to ond, bt there are any to ell a well. in the very frt en-

tence of the novel, even before the frt annotaton regardng ond and lght,

the text, n decrbng the nteror of the Marie, note that the fve fheren

down n the cabn taent . . . accod bore, dan ne orte de log obre

qsentait la saumure et la mer were . . . elbow on the table, drnkng, n knd

of adark dwellng thatsmelled of brine and the sea(i:; epha added; th

ell noted agan three ore te n the openng cene). sbeqently thoe

odor are perceved by oe (here npecfed) ndvdal, on sentait la a-re et la er one smelledthe brne and the ea, and not jt declared to ext:

there wa an odor of brne and the ea, or oethng of that ort. in the next

cene, a Gad recall her frt eetng wth Yann, he reeber the ena-

ton he had encontered whle walkng thogh Papol hortly after her retrn

fro Par. Along wth the ght and ond wa lgle a perron e de

fellage, tot overte en grande bae obre, avec son odeur dencens the

chrch, t entrance trewn wth leave, wde open lke a great, dark bay, with

its odor of incense (i:4; epha added). Agan, the olfactory tl pre-

ented throgh the cene here-pecfed oberver, Gad, and not throgh oe

nlocalzed ateporal narratng concone. Later n that ae cene Gad,

a he t at her open wndow, notce that l y avat d rete ne atre oder

doce q tat onte de jardn et de cor, celle de chvrefelle fler

r le grant de r, --et a ne vage enter de goon, vene d port

there wa alo another weet ell that had ren fro the garden and the

cortyard, that of honeyckle flowerng on the grante wall, and alo a vage

ell of eaweed, fro the harbor (i:5). When sylvetre goe ahore n inda

on h way to Vetna, he note the trange, dfferent ell there: Le vent q



24/26

poat cette ple entat le c et le fler The wnd that wa drvng th

ran elled of k and flower (ii:0). A Gad walk back fro Papol

to Plobazlanec one day, he reark that On entat loder ale de grve,

et loder doce de certane pette fler q croent r le falae entre

le pne agre Yo elled the alty ell of the hore, and the weet

ell of certan lttle flower that grow on the clff between the eager thorn

(iii:2). When, watng for Yann retrn, he goe to the Wdow Cro to

can the ea, the text note that ator de cette crox de Por-Even, l y avat le

lande ternelleent verte, tape dajonc cort. Et, cette hater, lar de

la er tat tr pr, ayant pene loder ale de goon, a repl de

enter dlcee de eptebre arond th Por-Even cro there were eter-

nally green heath, carpeted wth hort gore. And, that hgh p, the ea ar wa

very pre, havng barely the alty ell of eaweed, bt flled wth the delco

ell of septeber (V:8); etc.

A we have een, there are a varety of way n whch lteratre can be

preont, oe tranferred or adapted fro the tyle of pantng for whch

the ter wa coned, other extrapolated fro t bt nqe to langage. One

can fnd oe of the n the work of Flabert, the Goncort brother, Prot,

Jae, Conrad, and other wrter of the later nneteenth and early twentethcentre; other, partclarly the tranference of ipreont dntegraton of

for to langage, are ore partclar to Lot. How any of the, and n what

concentraton, one ha to enconter to qalfy a work a preont i wll

leave to each reader to decde. i wold ephaze agan, however, that, lke t

panterly conterpart, lterary preon t be prarly a atter of tyle

and not jt of content. Artt long before the ipreont panted landcape,

clod, eacape, lght, etc., bt none of the wold be condered ipreon-

t. it therstyle that dtnghe monet and h colleage fro ther pre-

deceor and cceor, not ther bject atter. slarly, Lot preoccpa-

ton wth lght and forle object not ffcent to ake Pcheur dIslande

preont. it h ndernng of the precon of langage, jxtapoton

of color, foc on ndvdal percepton, etc., .e., eleent of tyle, that ake

the novel lke a monet canva n a gnfcant way. i hope, hold reader of th

eay do e the honor of ng y categore n ther tde of other exaple

of lterary preon, that they wll keep th n nd.

if i have lted y exaple here to Pcheur dIslande, t n part

becae Aercan reader are le lkely to be aware of t than the work of

226 GENRE


25/26

the other athor entoned and o ore lkely to learn oethng new wth

th eay. it alo, however, becae Lot aterpece conttte a partc-

larly coprehenve exaple of the dverty of way n whch lteratre can be

preont, and therefore a partclarly effectve tool wth whch to deon-

trate how lteratre can both parallel pantng by developng technqe pecfc

to t own ed that allow t to acheve the ae effect a the val art, and

copleent pantng by prng plcaton of the panter aethetc that

canva cannot convey.23 it therefore worth, on th pont, ch extenve tdy.

i hope, however, that th analy of t wll alo erve a a gde to a ore

enrched ndertandng of the way n whch other lterary work can be een a

preont, a well a deontrate how frtfl a very foced, pecfc analy-

of lteratre fro the perpectve of pantng can be.

Works Cited

Bartho, Lo.Pcheur dIslande de Pierre Loti. Par: mellotte, n. d.

Berrong, Rchard m. In Love with a Handsome Sailor: The Emergence of Gay

Identity and the Novels of Pierre Loti. Toronto: unverty of Toronto Pre,

2003.Brd, C. Weley.Pierre Loti, correspondant et dessinateur 1872-1889. Par: P.

Andr, 948.

Borget, Pal. m. Edond & Jle de Goncort. Nouveaux essais de psy-

chologie contemporaine. Par: Alphone Leerre, 886. 35-98.

Canaday, John. Mainstreams of Modern Art. New York: Holt, Rnehart and

Wnton, 959.

Caraach, Enzo. Ralisme et impressionnisme dans loeuvre des frres Gon-

court. Pa: Golardca, n.d.

Chernowtz, marce E. Proust and Painting. New York: internatonal unver-ty Pre, 945.

Farrre, Clade. Cent dessins de Pierre Loti. Tor: Arralt, 948.

23 The novel ha been tranlated nto Englh even te, o t acceble to tdent of lteratreor art ntereted n prng the connecton between the two. snce the orgnal French text farlyeay readng n ter of vocablary and tyle and nce any tdent have an nteret n Frenchipreont pantng,Pcheur dIslande alo an deal text for a forth-year hgh chool or thrd-year college French progra when there an ntrctor who n ntereted n ng art a a wayof eang tdent nto the readng of lteratre n a foregn langage. Aercan foregn-langagetextbook pblher broght ot eght chool edton of the work between 896 and 935, oe

abrdged and oe coplete, all of whch nclde gloare (for thee, ee Berrong 240 n. ).French teacher ay alo ake e of the webte i have created, whch provde the fll text ofthe novel lltrated by any monet canvae: http://www.peronal.kent.ed/~rberrong/fr3322/pecherdlande.ht



26/26

Hatzfeld, Helt A.Literature Through Art: A New Approach to French Litera-

ture. New York: Oxford unverty Pre, 952.

Krchke, Jae J. Henry James and Impressionism. Troy, N.Y.: Whtton,

98.Kronegger, mara Elabeth. Literary Impressionism. New Haven, CT: College

and unverty Pre, 973.

Le Hr, Yve. Le olel dan Pcher dilande de Perre Lot. Les Lettres

romanes 8 (964): 53-58.

Leatre, Jle.Les contemporains. Par: Lecene, 894. iii.

Lot, Perre.Discours de rception de Pierre Loti. Par: Calann-Lvy, 892.

----. Pcheur dIslande.

----.Le Roman dun enfant.

moer, Rth.Limpressionnisme franais: Peinture-Littrature-Musique. Gene-va: Droz, 952.

Peter, John G. Conrad and Impressionism. Cabrdge: Cabrdge unverty

Pre, 200.

Prot, marcel. A la recherche du temps perdu. Ed. Perre Clarac and Andr

Ferr. Par: Gallard, 955. 3 vol.

----. Correspondance. Ed. Phlp Kolb. Par: Plon, 970. i.

Roenbl, Robert, H. W. Janon. 19th-Century Art. New York: Abra, 984.

scep, Henr. Rhtorqe de lncertan dan Pcher dilande. Revue Pierre

Loti 27 (986): 65-8.sonntag, Dna. Prelde to Taht: Gagn n Par, Brttany and martnqe.

Paul Gauguin: Tahiti Ed. Chrtopher Becker. N.p.: Gerd Hatje, n.d. 85-

04.

sar, Andr.Lot.Prsences. Par: Ele-Pal Frre, 926. 20-2.

Valry, Pal.La tentaton de (sant) Flabert. Varit. Oeuvres. Ed. Jean Hyt-

er. Par: Gallard, 957. i: 63-9.

Wldenten, Danel. Claude Monet: biographie et catalogue raisonn. 5 vol.

Laanne: La Bblothqe de art, 974-99.

----.Monet. N.p.: Tachen, n.d. 4 vol.Wlon-Barea, Jlet, Davd Degener.Manet and the Sea. Phladelpha: Phla-

delpha me of Art, 2003.

Zola, Ele. Le actalte. Ecrits sur lart. Ed. Jean-Perre Ledc-Adne.

Par: Gallard, 99. 206-.

228 GENRE

modes of impressionism

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