The Aesthetics of Impressionism in the Novel “The Waves” by V. Woolf in the Context of the Theory of Intermediality

Abstract

The article deals with the analysis of the aspects of intermediality in the novel “The Waves” by V. Woolf and emphasizes the close relationship between the literary text of the author and the aesthetics of Impressionism. The interaction of literature and painting is at the level of micro- and macrosences of the text. Under the macro- we mean the ideological installations, the proximity of philosophical concepts, the approaches to understanding of life and the interpretation of the phenomena of the surrounding reality. The micro-semantics connections are realized in the creation of the literary text in accordance to the semantic dominant of the impressionistic aesthetics (the interaction at the level of naming, themes and forms). The author pays attention to the meaning of colours, light and shadow effects which create an additional semantic layer in the novel and have a symbolic meaning. “The Waves” is V. Woolf’s the most experimental book, and suggests that as her career and age advanced, she was increasingly willing to take risks with her work and demand more from both herself and her readers. This novel is the most serious and coherent attempt to scrutinize the moment of vision in the text. Each part of the novel “The Waves” begins with a picturesque interlude in the style of the impressionistic landscape. The novel is full of colour and descriptive words. So there seems to be always some pictures, taken on in the eyes of the reader. The line, the shape, the quality, the colour, the light, everything is in new tides of sensation. Everything gives an abstract atmosphere to the work. The descriptions of the movement of the sun and waves are so lyric and like impressionist pictures. The narrative strategies employed in the interludes both evoke and refute mimetic representation, and rely on the invisible notion of form as a counter discourse of Impressionism.