What novels of fiction do you find are the best exammples of presenting an environment of non-linear time?
How about examples providing a dream-like realm?
Posted by Christine (Member # 1646) on :
I've never found non-linear time to be a concept that works well except in math. Visualizing it is so abstract. Then there was the theory my husband presented to me a few eeks ago that we actually live in a two-dimension world that has been projected into three-dimensional space and that time isn't a fourth dimension. This same theory also suggests that time isn't linear but a solenoid.
[This message has been edited by Christine (edited January 21, 2005).]
Posted by ChrisOwens (Member # 1955) on :
Pardon my ignorance, what is a silinoid?
[This message has been edited by ChrisOwens (edited January 21, 2005).]
Posted by Christine (Member # 1646) on :
misspelling of a solenoid.
Posted by Jeraliey (Member # 2147) on :
The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King. Not only do they jump around to different "when"s by use of mysterious doors, the main setting of the story exists in a state of spatial and temporal drift. Time and space are, in effect, winding down. It's an excellent example of non-linear time.
It's a great series, too, at least until King got tired or writing it. (Around book 4 or 5)
Posted by HuntGod (Member # 2259) on :
Kurt Vonneguts "Galapagos".
It's been years since I read this, but if I recall correctly the story is told backwards at one point and he moves back and forward in the story liberally.
Posted by kathmandau (Member # 2254) on :
Many thanks for the input. I am interested in a story, amorphous in time and space, dream-like, and need to do some research.
It crosses my mind that it will take some doing to establish a story as a pitch for the reality of non-linear time, as opposed to a story told in non-linear fashion (which the reader's mind would then, if done well reconstruct into the assumption of a linear timeline).
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Posted by wetwilly (Member # 1818) on :
The absolute very best example I have ever read of non-linear story-telling is "A Pale View of Hills" by Kazuo Ishiguro. If you're looking for a story amorphous in space and time and dreamlike, this one is right up your alley, and it's masterfully executed. If that's what you're trying to learn, I would STRONGLY suggest getting your hands on a copy of this book.
Posted by Pyre Dynasty (Member # 1947) on :
Tracy and Laura Hickman's 'Bronze Canticles' has a nice dream world.
Posted by JBSkaggs (Member # 2265) on :
Look on the web for a non fiction book called Flatland. It is in public domain.
Also Piers Anthony did alot of work in non linear time and dreams. Xanth, Incarnations of Immortality etc.
Posted by wbriggs (Member # 2267) on :
Well, if it isn't linear, what is it?
Circular: The Ballad of Babel-17 (IIRC) by Samuel Delaney.
Interleaved linear: The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis, and lots of others I'm sure.
Linear but backward: Memento (film).
So much time travel I lost track: Communicating Doors (play).
But "amorphous," if I understand it correctly ... I wouldn't know how to make a story this way, but it's appealing to me. Nobody flame, please ... the pilot episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine had an illustration of how "nonlinear time" could already be a part of our lives.
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Posted by dpatridge (Member # 2208) on :
/me starts roasting briggs alive...
you know... briggs is one of Square's hallmark characters in their RPG series Final Fantasy. anyways... where did that come from? oh, i know. he got uhm... burned by terra in the 6th final fantasy... hehe
Posted by kathmandau (Member # 2254) on :
Is that "Flatland" by Edwin Abbott, about a two-dimensional world inhabited by sentient geometric shapes?
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Posted by Jules (Member # 1658) on :
I've been meaning to read Flatland for a while. Also Flatterland, the unofficial sequel by Ian Stewart.