Chrononoetics / -poetics

Chrononoetics

Chronography is one of the analytical levels that constitute TIMEJ’s bottom-up approach.

The term chrononoetics refers to conceptions of and ideas about time. It includes notions or discussions aboutthe shape of time, its characteristics, and also attitudes towards time. These conceptions are often explicit: the contemplation of time is thematic. However, there may be instances in which they are implicit and researchersmay ask what inferences can be drawn from a work in regard to the time conception underlying it.

The sociologist Maki Yūsuke has proposed a model of “time morphologies” to describe various time conceptions. The TIMEJ team has adapted his model and proposed some modifications to it. Our model defines these morphologies along two axes:

1) Whether time is thought of in qualitative terms, or whether it has been quantified and thus abstracted.

2) Whether a moment of repetition is considered or not.

In combination, this leads to four distinct morphologies of time:

Oscillating time: an opposition between two qualitatively distinct poles. The two are mutually exclusive. Because time “oscillates” between these distinct states, there is repetition. For example: Secular time vs. holy time.

Segmented linear time: time is singular, it does not repeat itself. However, it moves toward something. There is a final state that is qualitatively distinct from the beginning. For example: Eschatologies (“the end of time”).

Abstract linear time: Time is abstracted and quantified. It moves forward endlessly, is irreversible and contains no repetitions. For example: time as a base unit.

Cyclical time: Time is abstracted and quantified, and moves forward, however this concept accommodates for elements of repetition. For example: The Gregorian calendar combines the potentially endless, linear counting of years with the circular pattern of recurring months.

Such geometrical models of time are one important aspect of TIMEJ’s chrononoetical analysis. However, questions about characteristics of time, about how people feel about time, and what they think of whether time exists in the first place, are also part of the investigation.

Chronopoetics

The term chronopoetics relates to the ways in which the configuration of symbolic artefacts is shaped to convey chrononoetic information. This means that temporal information may be indirectly expressed in the choice of the means of articulation.

Examples include the deployment of a repetitive style in writing, a preference for certain imagery, or the use of wordy and elaborate narration. If a specific means of expression is favoured over others, then this must havecertain implications. Those implications could relate to a concept of time.

For example, in waka poetry, the use of certain phrases creates allusions to former poems, thus adding a meta-layer of temporal information to the piece. This is achieved by selecting a specific formulation of words.

Also, a lengthy and wordy text tells us that the author spent more time writing it than the author of a short, bullet-point like text containing many abbreviations. The form of the text thus contains implicit information about the time of the author.

Another example would be the serialization of a novel, e.g. in a newspaper. The temporality of the production and availability of the work is shaped differently than that of a novel published only once as monograph. Or, think of TV series that are broadcasted weekly and how the temporality of things has been changing with the spread of streaming services.

The consideration of temporal information that can be derived from this dimension is also an integral part of TIMEJ’s analysis.

Steineck, Raji C. 2017. „Time in Old Japan: In Search of a Paradigm“. KronoScope 17, Nr. 1 (2017): 16–36. https://brill.com/view/journals/kron/17/1/article-p16_4.xml?rskey=zon6nW&result=6

Maki, Yūsuke 真木悠介. 2003. Jikan no hikaku shakaigaku 時間の比較社会学. Iwanami gendai bunko. Gakujutsu 108 岩波現代文庫学術108. Tōkyō: Iwanami shoten 岩波書店.

Dux, Günter. 1992. Die Zeit in der Geschichte: ihre Entwicklungslogik vom Mythos zur Weltzeit. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.

Fraser, J. T. 2007. Time and Time Again: Reports From a Boundary of the Universe. Brill.

Genette, Gérard. 1990. Narrative discourse: an essay in method. Translated by Jane E. Lewin. New York: Cornell University Press.