Erica Wickerson
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- July 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198793274
- eISBN:
- 9780191835162
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198793274.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature, European Literature
Since space and time are the two fundamental modes of locating experience, the first chapter of the book considers their interaction. Specifically, the ways in which descriptions of space further the ...
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Since space and time are the two fundamental modes of locating experience, the first chapter of the book considers their interaction. Specifically, the ways in which descriptions of space further the sense of the passing of time are explored. Space has been traditionally thought of as the opposite of time, and critics have suggested that spatial description in narrative actually stills time. In this chapter, it is suggested that the opposite is true; that, in fact, describing objects and settings contributes to the multilayered, multidirectional, complex view of temporality that narrative affords. The chapter includes analyses of Mann’s Tonio Kröger, Death in Venice, and The Magic Mountain, in comparison with Kafka’s short story Home-Coming.Less
Since space and time are the two fundamental modes of locating experience, the first chapter of the book considers their interaction. Specifically, the ways in which descriptions of space further the sense of the passing of time are explored. Space has been traditionally thought of as the opposite of time, and critics have suggested that spatial description in narrative actually stills time. In this chapter, it is suggested that the opposite is true; that, in fact, describing objects and settings contributes to the multilayered, multidirectional, complex view of temporality that narrative affords. The chapter includes analyses of Mann’s Tonio Kröger, Death in Venice, and The Magic Mountain, in comparison with Kafka’s short story Home-Coming.
