Narrative Time

Abstract

Historical narratives are bound to archives and traces of the past, which provoke and give sustenance to the restless pursuit of past realities. Yet, historical narratives are equally dependent upon the work of configuration, which determines how traces of the past are taken up in the present, and thus how historical time is lived and conceived. The previous chapter examined the complex “two-way” temporality of the trace, focusing on the indirect referential mode of historical narratives. But we need to further consider the temporal structures of narrative itself, and the ways in which historical events and trajectories can be temporalized through narrative configuration. Accordingly, this chapter will explore in more detail the relationship between historical time and narrative time: the time of beginnings, middles, and ends; flashbacks and flash-forwards; turning points and returns.