Stendhal's Use of the Impressionistic Mode

Stendhal makes effective use in his novels of what can be appropriately termed the impressionistic mode, understood as a particular way of representing experience: impressions or effects first, then explanations or causes. Such a representation is in fact ideally suited to convey the tension between preconception and reality-and especially the moment when the hero's notion of what should happen in a given situation is undercut by what does in fact take place-that is an essential part of the Stendhalian world. The impressionistic mode allows the narrator to communicate this characteristic experience directly, in a manner that parallels our own order of perception in real life, and in that sense it plays an important role in the impact of the Stendhalian narration upon the reader. (JTB)