Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction. Objects of consciousness in Conrad's impressionist world
- 1 Subject/object: science and the epistemological origins of literary impressionism
- 2 Objects and events in the “primitive eye”: the epistemology of objectivity
- 3 Other-like-self and other-unlike-self: the epistemology of subjectivity
- 4 “Sudden holes” in time: the epistemology of temporality
- 5 Radical relativism, epistemological certainty, and ethical absolutes: Conrad's impressionist response to solipsism and anarchy
- Epilogue
- Notes
- Selected bibliography
- Index
4 - “Sudden holes” in time: the epistemology of temporality
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction. Objects of consciousness in Conrad's impressionist world
- 1 Subject/object: science and the epistemological origins of literary impressionism
- 2 Objects and events in the “primitive eye”: the epistemology of objectivity
- 3 Other-like-self and other-unlike-self: the epistemology of subjectivity
- 4 “Sudden holes” in time: the epistemology of temporality
- 5 Radical relativism, epistemological certainty, and ethical absolutes: Conrad's impressionist response to solipsism and anarchy
- Epilogue
- Notes
- Selected bibliography
- Index
Summary
“Eternity is a damned hole. It's time that you need.”
The Secret AgentThroughout his works, Conrad is concerned with various objects of consciousness. In addition to events, physical objects, and human subjects, he also investigates the human experience of time and its relationship to knowledge of the external world. J. M. Kertzer argues, “For Conrad, time is always in some sense ‘human time’ … The world empty of human activity and judgment is a timeless void.” As was true of objects, subjects, and events, Conrad identifies a gap between objectivity and subjectivity when experiencing time because time can only be accessed through human consciousness. Using impressionist techniques, Conrad considers how human beings experience time in an individual and contextualized manner. Furthermore, he inquires into the relationship between western civilization and the human experience of time. In his inquiry, Conrad considers three different temporal representations: human time, mechanical time, and narrative time. He investigates each of these – and more important how they interrelate. In particular, the relationship between human time and mechanical time attracts much of his attention. Conrad associates human time with the primitive and mechanical time with the civilized, and as is true of primitive and civilized perception in general, primitive time is time experienced without cultural influence, while civilized time is time experienced with cultural influence.
Human time appears in two forms in Conrad's works: personal time and cyclical time, and both blur the boundaries between subject, time, and context.
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- Information
- Conrad and Impressionism , pp. 86 - 122Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2001