French Literature Reviews - 2026

V. Pouzet-Duzer, L'Impressionnisme littéraire
Comparative and World Literature

Virginie Pouzet-Duzer, L'Impressionnisme littéraire

Saint-Denis : PUV, coll. "Culture et Société", 2013.

EAN 9782842923655.

Publisher's overview:

A scholarly journey through texts and images across the literary and artistic world of the late 19th century, this essay traces impressionism as its guiding thread. In painting, Manet and Degas take center stage, while all the literary genres of the era are examined alongside authors as diverse as Zola, Mallarmé, the Goncourt brothers, Huysmans, Rimbaud, Verlaine, Daudet, and Paul Bourget. Through the study of artistic exchanges between painters and writers, and employing cultural, sociological, and phenomenological perspectives in turn, this book highlights the overlooked yet crucial movement of literary impressionism.

The late nineteenth century in France witnessed a profound aesthetic cross-pollination between the visual arts and literature, a period when writers sought to transpose the sensory immediacy of canvas onto the printed page. This cultural environment fostered numerous experimental exchanges across genres, as artists and authors alike attempted to capture transient modern perceptions and fleeting atmospheric effects. Such interdisciplinary practices drew upon shifting paradigms in philosophy and sociology, reflecting an era increasingly fascinated by the mechanics of subjective perception and the nuances of urban and natural environments.

Readers interested in nineteenth-century French literature and art history may find this scholarly essay relevant. Virginie Pouzet-Duzer traces impressionism as a guiding thread through the works of diverse figures such as Zola, Mallarmé, Huysmans, and the Goncourt brothers, while also considering painters like Manet and Degas. The volume addresses the overlooked movement of literary impressionism by examining artistic exchanges and applying cultural, sociological, and phenomenological perspectives to late nineteenth-century texts and images.