Why Literary Time Is Measured in Minutes

Brief crystallizing moments have come to seem more distinctively literary than time measured in months or years. Where did we get that critical assumption? This essay traces it back to changes in the pacing of fiction itself. But the changes at stake are not themselves easily crystallized into a moment of revolutionary transformation. In English-language fiction, at least, they seem on the contrary to have sprawled across several centuries. It thus turns out that we need a longue durée, even to understand the literary history of anecdotes and gem-like moments.Sponsored by SSHRC via NovelTM.Ope