Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
  1. Home
  2. Books
  3. Of What Is Passing
    Show more authors
    • You may already have access via personal or institutional login
  • Select format
  • Publisher:
    Jagiellonian University Press
    Publication date:
    January 2026
    November 2023
    ISBN:
    9788323374763
    9788323352716
    Dimensions:
    Weight & Pages:
    Dimensions:
    Weight & Pages:
    • Subjects:
    Literature, European and World Literature: General Interest
    Series:
    Topographies of (Post)Modernity
You may already have access via personal or institutional login
    • Selected: Digital
    Add to cart View cart Buy from Cambridge.org
    Subjects:
    Literature, European and World Literature: General Interest
    Series:
    Topographies of (Post)Modernity
    Jagiellonian University Press logo
    Information

    Book description

    Of What Is Passing: Present-Tense Narration in the Contemporary Historical Novel explores a type of fiction that is illustrative of two current trends: on the one hand, the increasing popularity of the present tense as a narrative tense, and, on the other hand, the evolution of historical fiction at the turn of the twenty-first century.

    This book is a pioneering study of contemporary historical novels in which events and the narration of them appear contemporaneous. It is argued that, far from being a mere substitute for the customary past tense, the present tense as a narrative tense entails a range of narrative devices that contribute to the effect of imaginatively reconstructing the past as if it were still the unfolding present.

    The theoretical overview of time and tense in narrative is followed by detailed analyses of selected historical novels, illustrative of a variety of strategies consequent upon the choice of the present tense as the tense of narration. An underlying claim made throughout the book is that present-tense historical fiction typifies a new dimension of the genre which has recently attempted to navigate a way between traditional mimeticism and modern self-reflexivity.

    Refine List

    Actions for selected content:

    Select all | Deselect all
    • View selected items
    • Export citations
    • Download PDF (zip)
    • Save to Kindle
    • Save to Dropbox
    • Save to Google Drive

    Save Search

    You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

    Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
    Cancel
    ×

    Contents

    Contents

    Metrics

    Full text views

    Total number of HTML views: 0
    Total number of PDF views: 0 *
    Loading metrics...

    Book summary page views

    Total views: 0 *
    Loading metrics...

    * Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

    Usage data cannot currently be displayed.

    Accessibility standard: Unknown

    Why this information is here

    This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.

    Accessibility Information

    Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.