June 5, 2009

Impressionism


A lot of critics of The Great Gatsby praise its "impressionistic" style. I assume they refer to the practice of describing characters physically and psychologically in a sort of snapshot, piecemeal manner. A few character traits stand for the whole. Fleeting glimpses attract.

Is shortening chapters in a book just good, economical writing or is it inherently "impressionism," too?

No comments: