Literary Impressionism In Ivan Turgenev's Fathers And Sons
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Ivan Turgenev’s technique of literary impressionism in his portrayal of the characters in Fathers and Sons
Literary impressionism, when defined as a tool in literature, refers to a narrative style that is intentionally equivocal, placing more responsibility on the reader to draw his or her own conclusions about events within the novel, rather than relying on the narrator. As Robert Delaunay stated “Impressionism; it is the birth of Light in painting”, the element of impressionism in Turgenev’s work ‘Fathers and sons’ compels the readers to take a more holistic approach towards the novel, serving them the larger upscale picture of Russia of mid-19th century. In impressionistic literature there is often a proclivity towards exploring the “emotional landscape” and this is the element through which light is born in Turgenev’s paintings. There is more concern on the way the setting evokes emotional responses from both, characters and readers, a quality quite eminent in Turgenev’s ‘Fathers and Sons’. There is a prominent usage of literary impressionism in this work, preeminently in the area of portraying the behaviors and characteristics of various characters. These characteristics are used as symbols for something less prosaic and have a more profound connotation in revealing the distinction between various classes of Russia and the transition of their ideologies. He uses human relationships emblematically to display a socio-political transition happening in Russia.