Recently Viewed

New

Narrative and Freedom: The Shadows of Time by Gary Saul Morson 9780300068757

No reviews yet Write a Review
Booksplease Price: £34.84

  Bookmarks: Included free with every order
  Delivery: We ship to over 200 countries from the UK
  Range: Millions of books available
  Reviews: Booksplease rated "Excellent" on Trustpilot

  FREE UK DELIVERY: For all orders over £15!

SKU:
9780300068757
MPN:
9780300068757
Available from Booksplease!
Availability: Usually dispatched within 4 working days

Frequently Bought Together:

Total: Inc. VAT
Total: Ex. VAT

Description

In this important and controversial book, one of our leading literary theorists presents a major philosophical statement about the meaning of literature and the shape of literary texts. Drawing on works by the Russian writers Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Chekhov, by other writers as diverse as Sophocles, Cervantes, and George Eliot, by thinkers as varied as William James, Mikhail Bakhtin, and Stephen Jay Gould, and from philosophy, the Bible, television, and much more, Gary Saul Morson examines the relation of time to narrative form and to an ethical dimension of the literary experience.

Morson asserts that the way we think about the world and narrate events is often in contradiction to the truly eventful and open nature of daily life. Literature, history, and the sciences frequently present experience as if contingency, chance, and the possibility of diverse futures were all illusory. As a result, people draw conclusions or accept ideologies without sufficiently examining their consequences or alternatives. However, says Morson, there is another way to read and construct texts. He explains that most narratives are developed through foreshadowing and "backshadowing" (foreshadowing ascribed after the fact), which tend to reduce the multiplicity of possibilities in each moment. But other literary works try to convey temporal openness through a device he calls "sideshadowing." Sideshadowing suggests that to understand an event is to grasp what else might have happened. Time is not a line but a shifting set of fields of possibility. Morson argues that this view of time and narrative encourages intellectual pluralism, helps to liberate us from the false certainties of dogmatism, creates a healthy skepticism of present orthodoxies, and makes us aware that there are moral choices available to us.

Book Information
ISBN 9780300068757
Author Gary Saul Morson
Format Paperback
Page Count 348
Imprint Yale University Press
Publisher Yale University Press
Weight(grams) 499g

Reviews

No reviews yet Write a Review

Booksplease  Reviews


J - United Kingdom

Fast and efficient way to choose and receive books

This is my second experience using Booksplease. Both orders dealt with very quickly and despatched. Now waiting for my next read to drop through the letterbox.

J - United Kingdom

T - United States

Will definitely use again!

Great experience and I have zero concerns. They communicated through the shipping process and if there was any hiccups in it, they let me know. Books arrived in perfect condition as well as being fairly priced. 10/10 recommend. I will definitely shop here again!

T - United States

R - Spain

The shipping was just superior

The shipping was just superior; not even one of the books was in contact with the shipping box -anywhere-, not even a corner or the bottom, so all the books arrived in perfect condition. The international shipping took around 2 weeks, so pretty great too.

R - Spain

J - United Kingdom

Found a hard to get book…

Finding a hard to get book on Booksplease and with it not being an over inflated price was great. Ordering was really easy with updates on despatch. The book was packaged well and in great condition. I will certainly use them again.

J - United Kingdom