Time is of the essence in our society, yet 'our' time is rarely our
own. Instead, it belongs to others: family, friends, workplace and
commitments. There is never enough time, we cry. But do we question
what we mean by 'time' itself? This book is a direct challenge to
our conceptions, as well as a startling, witty and eclectic
collection of alternative ideas. It's an impressive debut for
Griffiths, who has bitten off a sizeable amount to chew upon,
weaving into her arguments examples from science and anthropology,
literature and geography. Time as we know it in the West is
manufactured, she says - no less than an example of 'cultural
imperialism'. Our time is tamed by routine, clocks and calendars;
we hollow out the cycles which occur in nature, and force
diversities into homogeneity. Griffiths is both pithy ('HRT aims to
make a Tesco of a woman') and exuberant; although her conclusions
are sometimes sweeping, she provides a feast for thought. (Kirkus
UK)
'A wonderful piece of polemic against everything that's wrong with
the way we deal with time today.' Independent WINNER OF THE BARNES
AND NOBLE 'DISCOVER AWARD FOR NON-FICTION' 2003 An infectiously
enthusiastic and original piece of cultural analysis on the one
subject that has ousted sex and money from the top of the
obsessions league. In thrillingly ebullient style and with every
paragraph fizzing over with smart ideas smartly expressed, livewire
polemicist Jay Griffiths takes Time in her teeth and champs and
chews at it until it's a far more palatable item - something to
nourish us, not just to tempt and worry us. Her fascinating
exploration of the passage of time includes (among many other
things): our obsession with speed, with overtaking; motorways and
their link to fascism; war; Mercury and the mythology of time and
speed; History and the heritage industry; the 'meanness' of
Greenwich Mean Time; the fast language we now have to go with fast
food; Aboriginal Dreamtime; the difference between festivals and
pageants; May Day; New Year; fin de siecles; the Millennium Dome;
the time-consuming nature of housework; sex as anti-authority and
anti-linear time; male concepts of time set against female; plastic
surgery and the denial of aging; the evolution of the global
calendar and clock; clock time versus wild time. At once playful,
political and passionate, she discusses Time's
arrow/domain/passage/gender/ linearity/circularity/speed/sloth/etc
with exceptional elan. It all makes for a hugely entertaining,
exciting and even terrifying book which marks the beginning of a
significant writing career.
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