ABSTRACT
The notion of the chronotope, which I use in my study of fantasy, The Magic
Code, was introduced into literary criticism by the Russian scholar Mikhail
Bakhtin. Bakhtin defines the chronotope as “ the intrinsic connectedness of
temporal and spatial relationships that are artistically expressed in litera
ture.” 1 In other words, and in what is probably a more correct translation
from the Russian, it means: “ a unity of time and space” presented in a liter
ary work. Bakhtin notes that he has borrowed the term from the natural
sciences, where it is widely used nowadays (the word itself comes from Greek
“ chronos”—time and “ topos”—place). In Bakhtin’s literary theory the term
acquires a specific meaning, denoting the unity of fictional time and place,
or, in his own words, “ a formal category,”2 an abstract literary notion. We are justified in asking whether there is any reason at all to resort
to the notion of the chronotope, or whether this is simply another fancy term
introduced instead of the old, well-approved literary terms “ place of action”
(or “ setting” ) and “ time of action.” On the rare occasions these concepts
are treated in handbooks on children’s literature, they are regarded as sepa
rate entities, and herein is the principal difference.3 The chronotope denotes
the indivisible unity of time and space, which according to Bakhtin are mu
tually dependent.
