Mieke Bal
Narratology: Introduction to the Theory of Narrative
Fourth Edition
“Heterochrony”
My choice of the term heterochrony is motivated by the emphasis on difference, rather than multiplicity only. Migration, a much-discussed topic of our time, is the exemplary situation of the experience of time as multiple, heterogeneous. The time of haste and waiting, the time of movement and stagnation; the time of memory and of an unsettling present not sustained by a predictable future.
Ignoring, for an instant, the subtle punctuation here, one can list a set of oppositions, all devoid of a predictable future:
haste — wait
movement — stagnation
memory — present
What is remarkable upon further examination is that the terms and their relations are not limited to parallel pairings:
haste (present) — memory (stagnation) — movement (wait)
which is of course indicated by the punctuation (note that semi-colon that separates out the positioning of memory … ).
And so for day 2864
15.10.2014