“Brooding reflection”: Redefining the literary impression in Henry James and Kate Chopin

Ellen M Bayer, Purdue University

Abstract

My dissertation examines the representation and function of the literary impression in selected texts of Henry James and Kate Chopin. While past scholarship on the literary impression has been comparative, analyzing it in relation to Impressionism in painting, or phenomenological, using it to explore the processing of impressions in the consciousness, my project considers the literary impression as a literary technique in itself. Examining the impression within its original context provides new insights into the dynamics of how these texts function, in terms of both the workings of plot and in the effect on readers. I argue, in short, that the impression in literature should be examined specifically in literary terms in order to understand its textual roles. Grounded in this approach, my project reveals that the literary impression is central to the formation of the plots of these texts. By eschewing from previous methodologies, my project shifts the discussion of the literary impression away from comparative models, and instead opts for close readings of the impression within its original context. While past scholarship has removed the literary impression from that context, my project posits the impression as being at the heart of the structure of these texts, and thus better analyzes exactly how the impression functions within the text. I argue that when we turn to the work of authors like James and Chopin, we encounter texts that demand more than an understanding of how the eye and mind work. These authors privilege depth; they demand that the characters, objects, and events in their writing be penetrated beyond the surface in order fully to be understood. I argue that the impression functions differently in literature than it does in other mediums, and thus a methodology unique to literature is required for such investigations. In Chapter One I propose a new methodology and demonstrate how this new approach reveals how the impression functions and is represented in literature. My project reveals that the literary impression serves as a focal point in the works of authors such as James and Chopin; in each text, a character’s impression of other characters, objects, or memories serves as a revealing moment and hinge point in the text. The literary impression also serves in each of these texts as a marker for growth; as characters learn to read and understand the impressions they receive they learn more about themselves and their relationships to other characters: they attain awareness. Readers, too, learn to read the impressions they receive from the novel and become active participants in the creation of meaning by applying to their own reading experience the lessons learned by the characters. I put my new methodology into practice in the two author-centered chapters that follow, and use it to offer new readings of James’ The Portrait of a Lady and Chopin’s The Awakening through this refocused lens. In my conclusion, I briefly examine Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth and suggest how my new methodology might be used to open up dimensions of many other novels, most especially novels of manners.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Lamb, Purdue University.

Subject Area

American literature|British and Irish literature

COinS