Time travel, the popular philosophy of narrative, David Wittenberg
Type
Label
Time travel, the popular philosophy of narrative, David Wittenberg
Language
eng
Index
no index present
Literary Form
non fiction
Main title
Time travel
Nature of contents
dictionaries
Responsibility statement
David Wittenberg
Sub title
the popular philosophy of narrative
Summary
In Time Travel, literary theorist David Wittenberg argues that time travel fiction is not mere escapism, but a narrative "laboratory" where theoretical questions about storytelling-and, by extension, about the philosophy of temporality, history, and subjectivity-are presented in story form. Drawing on physics, philosophy, narrative theory, psychoanalysis, and film theory, Wittenberg links innovations in time travel fiction to specific shifts in the popularization of science, from nineteenth-century evolutionary biology to twentieth-century quantum physics and more recent "multiverse" cosmologies. Wittenberg shows how popular awareness of new science led to surprising innovations in the literary "time machine," which evolved from a vehicle used for sociopolitical commentary into a psychological device capable of exploring the temporal structure and significance of subjects, viewpoints, and historical events. Time Travel draws on classic works of science fiction by H. G. Wells, Edward Bellamy, Robert Heinlein, Samuel Delany, and Harlan Ellison, television shows such as "The Twilight Zone" and "Star Trek," and other popular entertainments. These are read alongside theoretical work ranging from Einstein, Schrd̲inger, Stephen Hawking to Gřard Genette, David Lewis, and Gilles Deleuze. Wittenberg argues that even the most mainstream audiences of popular time travel fiction and cinema are vigorously engaged with many of the same questions about temporality, identity, and history that concern literary theorists, media and film scholars, and philosophers
Target audience
adult
Classification
Creator
Genre
Subject
- American fiction + History and criticism -- 20th century
- Science fiction, American + History and criticism
- Time perception in literature
- Electronic books
- Narration (Rhetoric)
- English fiction + History and criticism -- 20th century
- Time travel in motion pictures
- Science fiction, English + History and criticism
- Time travel in literature
- Literature + Philosophy
Content
Is Derivative Of
Incoming Resources
- Has instance1
Outgoing Resources
- Classification2
- Creator1
- Genre1
- Subject10
- American fiction + History and criticism -- 20th century
- Science fiction, American + History and criticism
- Time perception in literature
- Electronic books
- Narration (Rhetoric)
- English fiction + History and criticism -- 20th century
- Time travel in motion pictures
- Science fiction, English + History and criticism
- Time travel in literature
- Literature + Philosophy
- Content1
- Is Derivative Of1