Volume-XI, Issue-IV, July 2025 |
A Critique of Bergsonian Time and Free Will versus Fictional Representations of Time in Select Masterpieces in English Literature Dr. Pratap Kumar Dash, Associate Professor, Department of English, Rajendra University, Balangir, Odisha, India |
Received: 10.06.2025 | Accepted: 25.07.2025 | Published Online: 31.07.2025 | Page No: | ||||
DOI: 10.29032/ijhsss.vol.11.issue.04W.115 | |||||||
ABSTRACT | ||
Time in literary writings happen to be one of the most important considerations like space, story and characters. There are scores of time frames such as flashback and flashforward; in medias res; time travel; time dilation, time paradoxes, and frozen time. Two impressive popular subgenres of speculative fictions happen to be deep time and compressed time fictions. Deep time fictions are set in vast temporal scales, often geological and cosmic, emphasizing the insignificance of human existence in the face of such immense periods, and is explored through various literary and artistic forms. In contrast, compressed time or short-term fictions emphasize a much smaller timeframe, like a human existence or a few generations, focusing on events that occur within a limited period. In this context, this paper attempts at a comparative study of the effective use of time in "Children of Time" by Adrian Tchaikovsky and "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck. Tchaikovsky’s novel explores the rise of a civilization made up of genetically modified Portia labiata spiders on a terraformed exoplanet, all under the watchful guidance of an artificial intelligence modeled after one of the human terraformers whereas Steinbeck’s "Of Mice and Men" tells the poignant story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two itinerant ranch workers navigating the hardships of the Great Depression as they search for work across California. So far as the concept of time is concerned, Children of Time reflects on a central, multifaceted concept, explored through the vast timescales of evolution whereas in Of Mice and Men, time is a significant element, not just as a backdrop but as a driver of the characters' actions and the story's tragic outcome. The novella's time frame is limited to a few days, highlighting the fleeting nature of their dreams and the harsh reality of their lives. Time seems to be highly unrealistic and fictional in deep time fictions whereas time is real and valuable in the compressed time fictions. Not only this, H.G. Wells’ time travel to future in The Time Machine, the nonlinear time frames of Virginia Woolf and Salman Rushdie, and many such potential authors give us the idea of time as envisaged by Bergson. Keywords: deep time, compressed time, human existence, realistic, unrealistic, time frame |