Landscape with Invisible Hand

Content Warning: This section of the guide mentions suicide.

Several of the novel’s chapters are written as vignettes, or brief impressionistic scenes, rather than as traditionally structured chapters. Vignettes enhance the development of aspects such as the setting, characters, or mood of a text. The vignettes in Landscape with Invisible Hand serve two primary functions. First, the scenes develop elements of the text. For example, Chapter 2, “A Small Town at the Foot of the Rendering Sails,” introduces Adam and Chloe’s failed relationship and the theme of The Ups and Downs of Young Love. Their secondary function is to increase the tension within the plot. Vignettes depict individual scenes and, as such, don’t offer contextual information. The author uses the lack of context to inspire curiosity, such in the aforementioned vignette, which depicts a seemingly pleasant date and contrasts with Adam’s narration indicating that he and Chloe hate each other.

A device that hints at future events, called foreshadowing, enhances interest in a text. Anderson uses both blatant and subtle foreshadowing to connect the scenes and chapters. Direct foreshadowing includes Adam’s statement addressing the disillusionment of romance in his relationship with Chloe: “Needless to say, 1950s-dating someone you live with is a huge mistake” (36), which is the final line of Chapter 11, “My House in Early Fall (Watercolor on paper).