Time and Sensibility Flashcards
(73 cards)
George Lukacs about the inner action of the novel novel - in his seminal work, The Theory of the Novel
‘a struggle against the power of time’
What does it mean to say that “narrative time is dialogic”?
It means narrative always involves a dialogue between two temporalities: the story’s events (their sequence and duration) and the narrative’s flexible telling through language.
What is “homogeneous empty time” in Walter Benjamin’s terms? (Thesus)
uniform, measurable, and linear—e.g. clock or calendar time—used to justify historical progress and suppress alternative experiences of time.
What preceded homogenous empty time
Messianic time
What is “Huygensian chronometry”?
A mode of precise timekeeping based on Christiaan Huygens’s inventions (pendulum clock, balance spring for portable watches), emphasizing rationalized, mechanical time.
What is the significance of clocks and watches according to Stuart Sherman?
They render time palpable, audible, and visible—shaping modern perceptions of time and self-discipline.
How does Raymond Williams define “structures of feeling”? and what form does this best describe? (critical book)
an ongoing social experience often mistaken as private, personal, or isolating.
Link to the diary
What does Sherman mean by “writing in time”?
Writing that doesn’t just describe time but positions the reader/writer within time, creating a temporal self-awareness.
How does Austen parody time discipline through Mr Collins?
neglectful of good manners
How does Mr Collins appear as the epitome of a regency gentleman
introduced ‘punctual to his time’
‘IT is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.’ (until meets Charlotte L)
Studies etiquette books ‘there is nothing so advantageous … as instruction’
What is the “sensibility chronotype” according to Yahav? ‘Feeling Time’
A narrative mode which ‘asserts primacy over chronometry and chronology’.
What line emphasises Catherine’s dream of the Gothic will be undermined by the rigid conventions of time in Northanger Abbey?
General Tilney interrupts his description of the house’s ‘costly gilding’ to declare it is ‘twenty minutes of five!’
What does Catherine realise would be expected at Northanger?
‘the strictest punctuality to the family hours’
What does General Tilney’s obsession with time symbolize?
Tyrannical control—he governs not just space but internal and external time, enforcing household punctuality.
When exploring time interrupts
she resolved to lose no time in particular examination of anything, as she greatly dreaded disobliging the general by any delay.
After receiving a letter from her brother about his engagement to Isabella intrusion of time?
But now—in short, she made herself as miserable as possible for about half an hour, went down when the clock struck five, with a broken heart’.
Narrator deliberately shortens time
but uses the dash which grants a short breath of pause
‘made hersellf’ - misery is partly self-imposed, even performative, rather than entirely involuntary.
but beahviour restricted by short time frame granted
shift from emotional to social obligation
How does Marianne embody the dangers of unchecked sensibility?
without any power, because she was without the slightest desire of command over herself.’
How does Marianne later adopt more of her sister’s values of sense?
feelings ‘shall be regulated, they shall be checked by reason.’
How does Love and Freindship mock sensibility?
Through exaggerated responses: fainting, running mad, and ironic moral lessons like “Run mad as often as you chuse; but do not faint—.”
How is Sophia’s death in Love and Freindship framed ironically?
She dies from a cold after fainting on ground
Why is “Sophia” (who was all Sensibility and Feeling) a significant name in Austen’s satire?
It’s often used for overly sentimental heroines, commonly used by Austen for vacant or fickle women
How does Laura describe her sensibility to Marianne
‘too tremblingly alive’
How does ‘Love and Friendship’ use parentheses for ‘he said’ ‘she said’
Break up the speech and dialogue – the narrator’s view is constantly intruding on the characters.
What warning does Henry Mackenzie give in The Lounger?
Don’t forget reason and principle amid the “intricacies of sentiment” or “dreams of sensibility.”
