Alternative temporalities have often emerged as a reaction to the normativising force of time, demonstrating that time can be used as an instrument of power and oppression, but also as a means to resist this very oppression. Alternative Temporalities draws on analyses of modern literature to examine this often-neglected role of time. By exploring forms of temporal resistance in artistic representation, such as short stories and novels, that challenge the imposition of colonial, gender, or capitalist temporal orders, the book reveals how storytelling can be an essential tool in questioning and pushing back against coercive temporal structures.
The book analyses literary representations of time that challenge dominant temporalities and intersect different disciplines such as gender and sexuality studies, trauma and Indigenous studies, race and identity, and religion. It features narrative analyses proposing alternative embodied experiences of time, focusing on topics including the temporality of the AIDS-affected body, the experience of time in prison, and slowness in opposition to modern acceleration. Ultimately, Alternative Temporalities aims to create new theories as well as practices that may foster more diverse and inclusive ways of perceiving and embodying time.
Edited by:
Teresa Valentini,
Angela Weiser,
John Zilcosky
Imprint: University of Toronto Press
Country of Publication: Canada
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Spine: 23mm
Weight: 540g
ISBN: 9781487551919
ISBN 10: 1487551916
Pages: 277
Publication Date: 17 February 2025
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Primary
,
Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
"Acknowledgments List of Illustrations Introduction Teresa Valentini and Angela Weiser Part 1: Re-thinking Time 1. Modern Times John Zilcosky 2. The Unvirgin Sister and South: Racial and Sexual (Im)purity and Temporality in William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury Anna Kozak 3. Time in Alice Munro’s Short Stories: ""The Flats Road,"" ""Heirs of the Living Body,"" and ""Lichen"" Laura Davis 4. Representing Alternative Temporalities: Trauma Time and Indigenous Experience of Temporality in Tracey Lindberg’s Birdie Julia Siepak 5. Reshaping the Past: Time and Its Transcendence in Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being Nathaniel Preston 6. Timeless Joy: Rumi’s Poetry and the Praxis of the Transcendental Mahdieh Vali-Zadeh and Behrang Ajam Part 2: Re-acting Time 7. Destroying the Body, Creating the Soul: Derek Jarman’s Blue and the Dissolution of Image, Language, and Self Benji Nothwehr 8. Housing Time: New Approaches to Time and Trauma in Arabic Prison Poetry Abdulrahman Al Farhan 9. Resisting Prison Time: Hayashi Fusao and “May Day in Prison"" Edwin Michielsen 10. Samuel Beckett’s Time Pieces Andre Furlani Conclusion: Literature, Nonhuman Temporality, and the Philosophy of Time Adam Barrows Bibliography Index"
Teresa Valentini is a PhD candidate at the Centre for Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto. Angela Kerby Wesier is a writer and editor and holds an MA in Comparative Literature from the University of Toronto. John Zilcosky is a professor of German and Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto.
Reviews for Alternative Temporalities: The Emancipatory Power of Narrative
"""A lively, perceptive work, Alternative Temporalities pushes back against the dominant visions of time that circulate around us every day. Going beyond simplistic notions of slowing down, this book shows how diverse narratives can reshape the politics and power dynamics of time. The authors fill an urgent need by uncovering the temporal possibilities of a diverse and unequal world.""--Paul Huebener, Professor of English, Athabasca University ""This wide-ranging collection of essays explores a remarkable variety of topics and literary texts from different cultures and languages. By juxtaposing these diverse scholarly voices, the editors have elicited a sense of the continuities and divergences of temporality as manifested in narrative form across the globe. The volume makes an especially important contribution to our understanding of time as power and the strategies for resistance made available by literary texts in many different cultural traditions.""--Thomas Allen, Professor of English, University of Ottawa ""This stimulating collection builds on the humanities' temporal turn by excavating an astonishing range of diverse temporalities. The authors make a compelling case that literary forms don't replicate historical time, but liberate us from it.""--Michael W. Clune, Samuel B. and Virginia C. Knight Professor of Humanities, Case Western Reserve University"
