Just a little longer
Just a little longer
The article, "Just a little longer," reviews Nicholas Dames' book "The Chapter: A Segmented History from Antiquity to the Twenty-First Century," written by Joshua Barnes for the Sydney Review of Books. It explores the historical development and evolving function of chapters in literature, from ancient informational headings to their role in shaping narrative time in novels. The review discusses Dames's analysis of authors like Laurence Sterne, William Caxton, Augustine, and the Victorian novelists, examining how chapters create a sense of 'unified discontinuity' and influence the reader's perception of temporality. Barnes highlights Dames's taxonomic approach and his broader inquiry into how literary conventions reflect societal experiences of time, concluding with reflections on the melancholic aspects of literary history and reading.
Note
is the chapter a "visual fermata", a way to divide time in a story, a way to divide time for the reader, or a scalpel for the author or bookbinder to perform surgery on some narrative?
maybe all of the above, but yet the idea and use of chapters has its history and it's winners and losers.
I won't be picking up "the chapters", but I'm glad someone was able to write a review for it as the journey had a lot of twists and turns.
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