Abstract
Caught is composed of a variety of scenes, shifts in location, juxtapositions of present and past, and shifting points of view. Not all these transitions produce tonal effects and not all may be labelled montage as utilized by Eisenstein, a basic technique for the creation of tone in Caught. Rather, they are often what Eisenstein calls ‘parallel montage’ (a technique extensively used by the American film director Griffith), invoked primarily for the purpose of realistic representation. Green’s use of ‘parallel montage’ in Caught may be accounted for by citing Eisenstein’s comment on Griffith’s achievement:
His close-ups create atmosphere, outline traits of the characters, alternate in dialogues of the leading characters…. But Griffith at all times remains on a level of representation and objectivity and nowhere does he try through juxtaposition of shots to shape import and image.1
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Notes
A. Kingsley Weatherhead, A Reading of Henry Green (Seattle, 1961) p. 66.
Hans Kreitler and Shulamidt Kreitler, Psychology of the Arts (Durham, NC, 1972) pp. 94–101. Kreitler and Kreitler have studied the ways in which modern abstract painters create tension or conflict by juxtaposition of ‘two or more dissimilar forms’. They discuss how triangles in different positions may in themselves be tension-laden. For example, ‘A triangle with its apex down is experienced as less stable than a triangle with its apex up’. The image of Prudence standing at the apex of a vibrant triangle is likely to produce formal tension. On the other hand, a square or rectangle is a ‘good gestalt’. Seen from the point of view of abstract art, Richard’s withdrawal from the vibrant triangle towards a static rectangular form may suggest, ironically, his attempted escape from what disturbs the stasis of his dream-world.
Joseph Conrad, Youth: A Narrative (London, 1967) p. 20.
James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (London, 1950) p. 234.
Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse (London, 1927) pp. 311, 319–20.
M. H. Abrams, A Glossary of Literary Terms, 3rd edn (New York, 1957) p. 81.
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© 1986 Oddvar Holmesland
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Holmesland, O. (1986). Caught (1943) and Back (1946). In: A Critical Introduction to Henry Green’s Novels. Studies in 20th Century Literature. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-18221-3_3
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