The Art of Time in Fiction

Fiction imagines for us a stopping point from which life can be seen as intelligible,” asserts Joan Silber in The Art of Time in Fiction. The end point of a story determines its meaning, and one of the main tasks a writer faces is to define the duration of a plot. Silber uses wide-ranging examples from F. Scott Fitzgerald, Chinua Achebe, and Arundhati Roy, among others, to illustrate five key ways in which time unfolds in fiction. In clear-eyed prose, Silber elucidates a tricky but vital aspect of the art of fiction.

The Art of Time in Fiction is part of The Art of series, a new line of books by important authors on the craft of writing, edited by Charles Baxter. Each book examines a singular, but often assumed or neglected, issue facing the contemporary writer of fiction, nonfiction, or poetry. The Art of series means to restore the art of criticism while illuminating the art of writing.  Of the series, Baxter writes, “The Art Of series is meant to restore criticism as an art, with writers examining features of their craft in lively and colorful prose.”

Praise

Praise for Joan Silber:

“Silber’s writing has a clean, brisk authority that doesn’t linger to congratulate itself over either its insight or its wonderful details.”—The Believer

About the Author(s)

Joan Silber

Joan Silber is the author of six books of fiction, including The Size of the World. She teaches at Sarah Lawrence College and lives in New York City.