Time and the Moment in Victorian Literature and Society

Examines the ways in which nineteenth-century England, under the influence of industrializing forces and increased precision in assessing the passing of time, began to attach new importance to moments, and how writers introduced into major works of fiction incidents and events of great significance compressed into small units of time.

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Sudden changes, opportunities, or revelations have always carried a special significance in Western culture, from the Greek and later the Christian kairos to Evangelical experiences of conversion. This fascinating book explores the ways in which England, under the influence of industrializing forces and increased precision in assessing the passing of time, attached importance to moments, events that compress great significance into small units of time. Sue Zemka questions the importance that modernity invests in momentary events, from religion to aesthetics and philosophy. She argues for a strain in Victorian and early modern novels critical of the values the age invested in moments of time, and suggests that such novels also offer a correction to contemporary culture and criticism, with its emphasis on the momentary event as an agency of change.