ABSTRACT
Following the advent of modernism, the concept of time that had been prevalent in realist narrative underwent a challenge. Realism offered what seemed a linear exposition of time, appearing to present discrete moments along a straight line of temporality but actually effacing the process of lingering or digressing in scenes, or, at the very least, making the transition from summary to scene as smooth as possible. The expansion of the ‘reality effect’ in scenes, narrating minor details and impressions at length that was characteristic of modernism, explicitly contravened the concept of linear time as an onward procession of equally proportioned moments. Similarly, so-called ‘postmodernist’ narratives often demonstrated a wariness of the formulation of history as a steadily unfolding series of events. Frequently, they coupled this with a display of awareness of the thoroughly constructed nature of narrative and the impossibility of producing true closure of time and space through the device of a conclusive ending. In the final years of the twentieth century, however, these ideas had become so commonplace that they were almost ‘naturalized’; indeed, they contributed to the basic assumptions of many narratives produced by technologies which superseded and incorporated film, radio and television.
