Literature and Modern Time: Technological Modernity, Glimpses of Eternity, Experiments with Time

Abstract

‘Modern Time’ is a collection of nine essays that explore literature in the context of a wave of challenges to linear conceptions of time witnessed in the fin de siècle and early twentieth century. These challenges were not uniform in character. They came from multiple quarters reflecting major new developments in the fields of philosophy, science and technology. ‘Modern Time’ considers a spectrum of ways in which linear time is challenged in literature of the era, whether through transcendence of it, escape from it, or forcible ejection from it. The volume will demonstrate that literature of the era under scrutiny was not simply reacting to new theories of time—in some cases it is actually inspiring and anticipating them. Thus ‘Modern Time’ promises to offer a genuine dialogue between literature and time theory and in doing so will uncover and examine influences and connections— sometimes unexpected—between philosophers and writers of the era