The Time Lapse as a Narrative Technique in the 20th and 21st Century

Time lapses and ellipses are classic narrative strategies in literature. However, these narrative techniques have come under scrutiny in contemporary literature, which often attempts to depict prolonged periods of time. Speculative novels and so-called climate fiction, in particular, narrate long periods of time in order to shed light on larger temporal and spatial contexts and the interactions between different entities, including the non-human.

The project takes this as an opportunity to re-examine and historicize the narratological problem of relating story time (histoire) to narrative time (discours). Gérard Genette’s approach was based on the idea that time is, on the one hand, measured (chronology) and, on the other hand, spatialized (length), thus allowing for the analysis of narrative speeds. By looking at the depiction of long periods of time in narrative texts of the 20th and 21st century, this project analyzes the ratio between histoire and discours and its development toward an extreme. For the purposes of this study, “long” will initially refer to a time span exceeding several decades. It concerns a period of time that typically extends beyond the span of the generational novel and can be measured in centuries or millennia. Furthermore, the project elucidates the preconditions underlying specific notions of time and history in various novels. The project has three main research objectives:

1. Narratological aspects: How are text passages focalized? Who is speaking when the depicted time period greatly exceeds an individual’s lifetime? What are the limits of narrative techniques such as time lapse and ellipses?
2. Models of time and history: Are there correlations between the discussion of time and history in the histoire and the modelling of time through the discours? Is the (im)possibility of memory and archiving explored? Do certain conceptions of temporal development or specific historical-philosophical presumptions come to the fore in the histoire or the discours?
3. Cultural and media history: Does knowledge from other fields, particularly of historical sciences, influence the depiction of long periods of time? How important are modern narratives and techniques of acceleration in other media for literature? Are there any specific literary “capacities for acceleration and delay” (Genette) that distinguish literature from other media?
   
   

Fig. above: © Dirk Naguschewski