The Invention of Time: Temporal Textures in Literary Works 3301-LB2063-2ST
Time – or rather, the way the temporal dimension is created and maintained in a text – is what gives a shape of reality to the literary work. Every writer creates their own version of time in every text they write, managing their story world and its connection with the reader through the order in which events are related (as opposed to the order they took place), frequency with which occurrences are described, speed with which the story moves between its “temporal posts,” and correlation between the text time and story time. How to contain all the ambiguities which comprise our experience of time in an essentially linear “railway line of sentence”? What aspects of language may collude in the creation of the illusion of temporality? Anachronisms, time loops, repetition, and ellipses may be used to create tension, make the reader suspect the narrator’s reliability, and feel trapped in the textual labyrinth. Time is a concept both abstract and very present in our daily lives, and reflecting its uneven flow in a text is the subject of countless literary experiments. The course will offer a selection of such fictions for detailed study. Basic literary terms connected with time will be discussed, as the course studies the ways in which writers reinvent time and fashion it to give a breath of life to their imaginary worlds. The students will be able to test their grasp of the concepts and devices discussed in class by writing their own short fictions.
Possible topics:
1. Introduction: time as fiction, fiction as time
2. The clock and the mind: Graham Swift, Mothering Sunday
3. Time as a flow, time as a fantasy: Virginia Woolf’s temporality - “Slatter’s Pins Have No Points”, “Moments of Being,” Mrs. Dalloway or To The Lighthouse.
4. Hopscotch: Muriel Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie or The Hothouse by the East River
5. Time as memory: Kazuo Ishiguro, An Artist of the Floating World or When We Were Orphans
6. Transparencies: John Banville, The Infinities and The Singularities (selection of fragments, references to Banville’s other works will be made)
7. Composite: Vladimir Nabokov, “Spring in Fialta”, Speak, Memory (fragments)
The precise list of texts to be read will be established during the introductory class and will depend on the students' knowledge and preferences.
Type of course
Mode
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
Knowledge
Students will have in-depth familiarity with:
- K_W01 advanced terminology, theory and research methods corresponding to the state of the art in the disciplines of literary studies, in particular relating to the temporal aspects of literary narratives
- K_W04 concepts and principles concerning the protection of intellectual property and copyright
Abilities
Students will be able to:
- K_U01 apply the advanced terminology, theories and research methods of literary studies, such as literary terms on aspects of temporality in narratives, to solve complex and original research problems in accordance with his/her chosen specialization (and educational path)
- K_U04 apply the concepts and principles of intellectual property protection and copyright law
Social competences
Students will be ready to:
- K_K01 critically appraise their knowledge and content obtained from various sources
- K_K02 recognize the importance of knowledge in solving cognitive and practical problems; consult
experts when required
Assessment criteria
The course is based on discussions and workshops. During workshops, students prepare detailed textual maps, following themes appearing in a given text, or work on creative exercises. Textual maps consist of citations on a given theme (for example, following appearances of a given object in the text), which are grouped in a meaningful way and interpreted by the student in a detailed analysis.
Creative exercises should showcase the application of a particular literary device; they may, in part, be pastiches of the works studied in the course, and, in part, individual experiments with the notion of time in literature.
Each student is expected to compile at least one textual map and prepare at least one creative work. Both are to be shared with the group and will be discussed in class or individually. Assignments should be arranged with the course instructor.
At the end of the course, students take a brief oral test, answering questions on the texts studied during the course, individually or in pairs.
10% - participation in discussions (verification of outcomes: W, U, K)
50% - participation in workshops: creative work / text maps (verification of outcomes: W, U, K)
40% - oral test (verification of outcomes: W, U, K)
Due to the particular nature of the course, any use of AI is absolutely forbidden and will result in failing the course.
Attendance is obligatory. Two absences are allowed.
Bibliography
Fictional works
1. Graham Swift, Mothering Sunday
2. Virginia Woolf, “Slatter’s Pins Have No Points”, “Moments of Being”
3. Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway or To The Lighthouse
4. Muriel Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie or The Hothouse by the East River
5. Kazuo Ishiguro, An Artist of the Floating World or When We Were Orphans
6. John Banville, The Infinities and The Singularities
7. Vladimir Nabokov, “Spring in Fialta”, Speak, Memory
Criticism – literary terms
1. Shlomit Rimmon-Kenan, Narrative Fiction: Contemporary Poetics – chapter 4, “Text – Time”, pp. 45-60
2. Seymour Chatman, Story and Discourse: Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film – from chapter 1, pp.62-84
Criticism – time in literature
1. Teresa Bridgeman, “Time and Space” from The Cambridge Companion to Narrative
2. Gary Saul Morson, Narrative and Freedom: The Shadows of Time
3. Brian Richardson, “Beyond Story and Discourse: Narrative Time in Postmodern and Nonmimetic Fiction” in Brian Richardson, ed., Narrative Dynamics: Essays on Time, Plot, Closure and Frames
4. Ursula K. Heise, Chronischisms: Time, Narrative, and Postmodernism
5. Selection of criticism dedicated to the texts studied in the course
Writers on time
1. Virginia Woolf, letters to Jacques Reverat
2. Vladimir Nabokov, “The Texture of Time” from Ada, or Ardor: A Family Chronicle
3. Marcel Proust, fragments from In Search of the Lost Time
Philosophical works (optional; references to these texts will be made during the classes)
1. Paul Ricouer, Time and Narrative (fragments)
2. Henri Bergson, Time and Free Will: An Essay on the Immediate Data of Consciousness (fragments)
3. Genevieve Lloyd, Being in Time Selves and Narrators in Philosophy and Literature (fragments, and chapter IV)
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: