His narrative methods are very close to those of the modern impressionists, like Virginia Wolf and James Joyce. Like them, he too constantly moves backwards and forwards. E. M. Forster is right in regarding Sterne as the first of the impressionists.
The recent teachings of psychology clearly show that Sterne, after all, is not so incoherent and shapeless as earlier critics supposed him to be. He was simply much in advance of his times. He suggests the novel of the sub conscious. Therefore, we can call him the first of the modern impressionists.