The Productions of Time: A Study of the Human Imagination

469 Pages·2021·2.106 MB·English

by  Michael Dolzani

Acknowledgments i
THE PRODUCTIONS OF TIME
mcgill-queen’s refugee and forced migration
studies
Series editors: Megan Bradley and James Milner
Forced migrationis a local, national, regional,and globalchallenge with pro-
found political and social implications. Understanding the causes and conse-
quencesof, and possible responses to,forced migration requires careful analy-
sis from a range of disciplinary perspectives, as well as interdisciplinary
dialogue.
The purpose of the McGill-Queen’s Refugee and Forced Migration Studies
series is to advance in-depth examination of diverse forms, dimensions,and
experiences of displacement, including in the context of conflict and violence,
repression and persecution,anddisasters and environmental change. The series
will explore responses to refugees, internal displacement,and other forms of
forced migration to illuminate the dynamics surrounding forced migration in
global, national,and local contexts, including Canada, the perspectives of dis-
placed individuals and communities, and the connections to broader patterns
of human mobility.Featuring research from fields including politics, interna-
tional relations, law, anthropology, sociology, geography,and history, the series
highlightsnew and critical areas of enquiry within the field, especially conver-
sations across disciplines and from the perspective of researchers in the global
South, where the majority of forced migration unfolds. The series benefits
from an international advisory board made up of leading scholars in refugee
and forced migration studies.
1 The Criminalization of Migration
Context and Consequences
Edited by Idil Atak and James C. Simeon
preface iii
THE PRODUCTIONS OF TIME
A Study of the Human Imagination
MICHAEL DOLZANI
McGill-Queen’s University Press
Montreal & Kingston •London •Chicago
iv preface
© McGill-Queen’s University Press 2021
isbn978-0-2280-0558-2(cloth)
isbn978-0-2280-0647-3(epdf)
isbn978-0-2280-0648-0(epub)
Legal deposit first quarter 2021
Bibliothèque nationale du Québec
Printed in Canada on acid-free paper that is 100% ancient forest free (100%
post-consumer recycled), processed chlorine free
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Title: The productions of time : a study of the human imagination /
Michael Dolzani.
Names: Dolzani, Michael, 1951– author.
Description: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20200348345 | Canadiana (ebook)
20200348418 | isbn9780228005582 (cloth) | isbn9780228006473
(epdf) | isbn9780228006480 (epub)
Subjects: lcsh: Mythology in literature. | lcsh: Criticism.
Classification: lcc pn56.m95 d65 2021 | ddc809/.915—dc23
This book was typeset by True to Type in 10.5/13Sabon
Acknowledgments v
To the Merry Band:
Stacey Clemence
Bonney Harnish
Robert Klips
Dennis McCurdy
K.C. Smith
vi Acknowledgments
preface vii
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Editions Cited xi
Overture: Concerning Mandala Symbolism: The Symbol with and
without Meaning xiii
Introduction: The State of Criticism at the Present Time 3
PART ONE FIRST THERE IS A MOUNTAIN: THE VERTICAL AXIS
ASCENDING
I Revelation, or Imagination 25
II Emanation 84
III Creation 94
IV Scripture as Creation 104
V “Our Great Salvation from Above”: Traditional Mythology and
the Point of Transcendence 115
PART TWO THERE IS A SEASON: THE CYCLE
I Paradise 127
II The Fall 139
III The Fallen World of Cyclical Time: Law and Sacrifice 143
IV Tragedy 178
V Comedy 191
VI The Form of Drama 207
PART THREE THE EYE BEGINS TO SEE: THE HORIZONTAL AXIS
I The Affirmation of the Cycle 213
II The Progressive Vision 218
viii Contents
III What the Hammer? The Forge of Language 222
IV The Ironic Cycle and the Clarification of Vision 227
V The Recreation of Evolution: Hunting Cultures 231
VI The Recreation of Evolution: Gathering and Planting
Cultures 235
VII The Mythology of Urban Civilization and Empire 239
VIII The Progressive Vision of the Bible: The Trickster God 242
IX The Progressive Vision of the Bible: Letter and Spirit 245
X The Progressive Vision of the Bible: Typology 246
XI The Progressive Vision in Classical Mythology 249
XII The Middle Ages and Renaissance:Romantic and Spiritual
Heroes 258
XIII Shakespearean Tragicomedy or Romance 265
XIV Summary and Prelude: The Historical Nexus of Romanticism 267
XV In the White Giant’s Thigh: Romantic and Anti-Romantic 272
XVI Prometheus Agonistes: German Idealism and Marxism 297
XVII Romantic Internalization 310
XVIII The Novel: The Realistic Horizontal 317
XIX The Historical Novel and Science Fiction 323
XX The Novel as Epic 329
XXI The Lyric as Epic 330
PART FOUR YOU WANT IT DARKER: THE VERTICAL AXIS DESCENDING
I Decreation and the Descent Quest 333
II Decreative Realism 341
III Creative Non-fiction: Surface and Depth 344
IV The Lyric: Surface and Depth 346
V The Decreation Myth of Language 350
VI The Otherworld: Traditional and Dark Romance 366
VII The Sublime 376
VIII The Urban Otherworld 378
IX The Demonic: The Principle of Negation 382
X The Pluralistic Afterlife 385
XI Nothing 387
XII Reversal 389
XIII Satire and Apocalypse 391
XIV Satire, Laughter, and the Redemption of Time 397
Notes 405
Index 435
Acknowledgments ix
Acknowledgments
In a very real way, this book has taken me a lifetime to write.It is what
Northrop Frye calls an anatomy, an encyclopaedic work, and it anatomizes
almost everything I have read and thought about in a long life.A small
group of kindred spirits, to whom this book is dedicated, has known me
through much of that period. Their genial tolerance of my unceasing pre-
occupation, over decades, with literature, mythology, and depth psycholo-
gy, with certain writers in particular, and with certain issues; and their
faith in me and this project, even when almost all they knew about it was
my obsession with it, have made it possible for me to complete a work
that at times seemed, and may well be, absurdly overambitious. One of
them is both friend and life partner:Stacey Clemence not only managed
to live patiently with me while I was writing but also read parts of the
manuscript, caught errors, and made suggestions. In addition, she kindly
employed her computer skills to rectify various issues of formatting that
the author would have found maddening to wrestle with on his own. To
these long-time companions has been added recently another source of
inspiration, friendship, love, and support, Sandral Goodings, whom I only
wish I had met earlier.And now we are seven.
I owe a more specific debt to four fellow scholars, Bob Denham,Gra-
ham Forst, Jeffery Donaldson, and Adam Carter, who read the entire man-
uscript with painstaking care.When the folder with his comments disap-
peared from my computer, Graham went through the manuscript a
second time and reproduced them.These four readers not only pointed
out mistakes and informed me when transitions in my sometimes
labyrinthine arguments were harder to follow than they should be, but
each also made creative suggestions that inspired me both to clarify my
own thinking and to develop it further in ways that would not have