Beginnings and Endings: Hesse and Kawabata

M. Pilarcik

A chapter in The Study of Time IV, 1981, pp 119-135 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract The idea of beginnings and endings suggests a number of intriguing and often paradoxical questions about the nature of time and the human perception of events, change, and movement within the limitations of a temporal framework. From one standpoint, beginnings and endings provide a means of ordering events within a coherent unit, thus imbuing them with a certain definition and significance. For example, Huizinga, in his seminal work on the play element of culture, recognizes time restrictions as a chief characteristic of play: “Play begins, and then at a certain moment it is ‘over.’ It plays itself to an end.”1 These boundaries create a temporary sphere of activity with its own order and separate it from the confusion of ordinary life. Aristotle also uses a linear and progressive time sense to define tragedy as a whole and complete action, “ ‘Whole’ means having a beginning, a middle and an end. …”

Keywords: Ordinary Life; Subjective Time; External Time; Temporal Framework; Everyday Reality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1981
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-1-4612-5947-3_10

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DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4612-5947-3_10

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