Evolving Nowness and Quantum Theory as New Explanations of
Nonlinear Temporality in Kerouac's Duluoz Legend

HAWSHAR, Talal. Evolving Nowness and Quantum Theory as New Explanations of Nonlinear Temporality in Kerouac's Duluoz Legend. In 10th Annual Conference of the European Beat Studies Network – “Beat Times: Temporalities in Beat Writing”, Murcia, Spain, September 28-30, 2022. 2022.

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TY  - CONF
ID  - 2227020
AU  - Hawshar, Talal
PY  - 2022
TI  - Evolving Nowness and Quantum Theory as New Explanations of Nonlinear Temporality in Kerouac's Duluoz Legend
KW  - Jack Kerouac
KW  - Evolving Nowness
KW  - Atemporality
KW  - timelessness
KW  - nonlinear temporality
KW  - quantum mechanics
UR  - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1E1uvXKxL-B6NTbfguh9dg63o3Zc5p4zS/view
N2  - Discussions on Kerouacian non-linearity have been recycled and have not taken into account recent and experimental developments in the study of the present as a peculiar philosophical and cognitive configuration of time. Furthermore, they have focused disproportionately on On the Road, disregarding the role that the connectedness between the novels that comprise the Duluoz Legend plays in revealing unconventional expressions of narrative temporality. This presentation proposes a new way of looking into non-linear temporality in the Duluoz Legend, which is that of the neurophenomenological angle, particularly the neuroscientific interpretation of Husserl’s nowness. I study the example of the 1959 summer stay at Mount Baker National Forest where Kerouac’s narrator worked as a fire lookout, and consider that experience as a narrative dimension that generates what Tikka and Kaipainen call a retentive perspective. The retentive perspective is Jack Duluoz’s continuously evolving explanation of the present in terms of the selected narrative dimension. I show how the same narrative dimension (the mountaintop experience) generates two different retentive perspectives (explanations of the nowness): the present as a state of neutrality and oneness, and the present as a state of solitude. As soon as the temporal distance separating the present from the narrative dimension spaces out, the first Retentive Perspective RP1 begins to destabilize and a second retentive perspective RP2 takes over, and so on. This notion of narrative nowness treats time as a spatial component with the distance between events referred to as narrative coordinates. In the end, I offer another, more experimental perspective on the spatialization of time in the works of Kerouac, which proposes to view temporality in the context of the quantum mechanical explanation of reality, specifically the Many Worlds Interpretation and the Hartle–Hawking state to account for narrative omniscience and timelessness.
ER  -

Basic information
Original name	Evolving Nowness and Quantum Theory as New Explanations of Nonlinear Temporality in Kerouac's Duluoz Legend
Name in Czech	Evolving Nowness a kvantová teorie jako nové vysvětlení nelineární časovosti v Kerouacově Duluozově legendě
Authors	HAWSHAR, Talal.
Edition	10th Annual Conference of the European Beat Studies Network – “Beat Times: Temporalities in Beat Writing”, Murcia, Spain, September 28-30, 2022, 2022.

Other information
Original language	English
Type of outcome	Presentations at conferences
Field of Study	60206 Specific literatures
Country of publisher	Spain
Confidentiality degree	is not subject to a state or trade secret
WWW	program konference
Organization unit	Faculty of Arts
Keywords (in Czech)	Jack Kerouac; Evolving Nowness; atemporalita; bezčasí; nelineární časovost; kvantová mechanika
Keywords in English	Jack Kerouac; Evolving Nowness; Atemporality; timelessness; nonlinear temporality; quantum mechanics
Tags	International impact, Reviewed
Changed by	Changed by: Mgr. Jana Pelclová, Ph.D., učo 39970. Changed: 22/1/2023 15:27.

Abstract

Discussions on Kerouacian non-linearity have been recycled and have not taken into account recent and experimental developments in the study of the present as a peculiar philosophical and cognitive configuration of time. Furthermore, they have focused disproportionately on On the Road, disregarding the role that the connectedness between the novels that comprise the Duluoz Legend plays in revealing unconventional expressions of narrative temporality. This presentation proposes a new way of looking into non-linear temporality in the Duluoz Legend, which is that of the neurophenomenological angle, particularly the neuroscientific interpretation of Husserl’s nowness. I study the example of the 1959 summer stay at Mount Baker National Forest where Kerouac’s narrator worked as a fire lookout, and consider that experience as a narrative dimension that generates what Tikka and Kaipainen call a retentive perspective. The retentive perspective is Jack Duluoz’s continuously evolving explanation of the present in terms of the selected narrative dimension. I show how the same narrative dimension (the mountaintop experience) generates two different retentive perspectives (explanations of the nowness): the present as a state of neutrality and oneness, and the present as a state of solitude. As soon as the temporal distance separating the present from the narrative dimension spaces out, the first Retentive Perspective RP1 begins to destabilize and a second retentive perspective RP2 takes over, and so on. This notion of narrative nowness treats time as a spatial component with the distance between events referred to as narrative coordinates. In the end, I offer another, more experimental perspective on the spatialization of time in the works of Kerouac, which proposes to view temporality in the context of the quantum mechanical explanation of reality, specifically the Many Worlds Interpretation and the Hartle–Hawking state to account for narrative omniscience and timelessness.

Abstract (in Czech)

Diskuse o kerouaciovské nelinearitě byly recyklovány a nebraly v úvahu nedávný a experimentální vývoj ve studiu přítomnosti jako zvláštní filozofické a kognitivní konfigurace času. Navíc se nepřiměřeně soustředily na román Na cestě a nebraly v úvahu roli, kterou při odhalování nekonvenčních projevů narativní časovosti hraje propojenost románů tvořících Duluozovu legendu. Tato prezentace navrhuje nový způsob pohledu na nelineární časovost v Duluozově legendě, a to z neurofenomenologického úhlu, zejména neurovědeckou interpretaci Husserlovy nanebevzetí. Studuji příklad letního pobytu v Mount Baker National Forest v roce 1959, kde Kerouacův vypravěč pracoval jako požární hlídač, a považuji tuto zkušenost za narativní rozměr, který vytváří to, co Tikka a Kaipainen nazývají retentistickou perspektivou. Retenční perspektiva je neustále se vyvíjející vysvětlení přítomnosti Jacka Duluoza z hlediska vybraného narativního rozměru. Ukazuji, jak stejná narativní dimenze (zážitek z vrcholu hory) generuje dvě různé retenční perspektivy (vysvětlení nanebevzetí): přítomnost jako stav neutrality a jednoty a přítomnost jako stav osamělosti. Jakmile se časová vzdálenost oddělující přítomnost od narativní dimenze rozestoupí, první retenční perspektiva RP1 se začne destabilizovat a nastoupí druhá retenční perspektiva RP2 atd. Toto pojetí narativní nosti zachází s časem jako s prostorovou složkou, přičemž vzdálenost mezi událostmi se označuje jako narativní souřadnice. Na závěr nabízím další, experimentálnější pohled na prostorovost času v Kerouacově díle, který navrhuje nahlížet na časovost v kontextu kvantově mechanického vysvětlení reality, konkrétně interpretace mnoha světů a Hartleova-Hawkingova stavu, aby bylo možné vysvětlit narativní vševědoucnost a bezčasovost.

Links
MUNI/A/1478/2021, interní kód MU	Name: Paradigms, strategies and developments - Anglophone literary and cultural studies II
MUNI/A/1478/2021, interní kód MU	Investor: Masaryk University

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Evolving Nowness and Quantum Theory as New Explanations of Nonlinear Temporality in Kerouac's ...

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