Joan Silber elucidates ways that fiction approaches chronology, change, duration, and plot
The Art of Time in Fiction
As Long as It Takes
- “While this study (and the eight others in the series) is geared to aspiring fiction writers or poets, it will also be of interest to nonwriters who are fascinated by literature and how the enjoyments of works of art can be enhanced by knowing how authors use techniques to make their works effective.”—Library Journal
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.
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About the Author
Credit: Barry Goldstein
Praise
- "Highly recommended for aspiring authors, and an invaluable reference for experienced writers as well."—The Midwest Book Review
- “Silber’s writing has a clean, brisk authority that doesn’t linger to congratulate itself over either its insight or its wonderful details. “Time is moving,’ [her] stories seem to say, ‘so let’s get on with it while we still can.’”—The Believer
