Impressionism (in literature)

Impressionism in literature is a Modernist stylistic current of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century that, by analogy with the painting of the same name, sought to convey the immediate, changeable impression of reality, the subtle shades of mood, the play of light and color, and the fleeting movements of the soul. Impressionist prose renounces an extended plot in favor of the fragment, the étude, the 'mood' sketch; it is marked by an open-air quality, lyricism, and attention to sensory detail. In Ukrainian literature Impressionism reached a world level in the work of Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky — the novellas Intermezzo and Apple Blossom and the tale Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors astonish with the fine nuancing of impressions and psychological states. The Impressionist manner also marks the novellas of Marko Cheremshyna, the early prose of Hryhorii Kosynka, and the 'blue' lyric writing of Mykola Khvylovy.