Impressionistic Writing

While impressionism is usually thought of as a technique used in the visual arts, such as painting, writers have also employed it. Dorothy Richardson, James Joyce, and Virginia Woolf are all said to have written in an impressionistic style. Impressionism in literature involves depicting a scene by writing about the sensory and emotional perceptions (or impressions) associated with the scene rather than by recreating the objective reality of the scene.

Hendel uses this technique extensively in "Small Change. For the author, representing Rutchen's emotions and feelings while she tells her horrible tale is more important than retelling the events in realistic detail. As well, the narrator's emotions are expressed when Hendel paints a scene. For example, when Rutchen gets ready to start her story, she tells the narrator, Look at the trees. The narrator does so, but what she sees is not trees but a manifestation of...