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'Looking down time's telescope at myself': reincarnation and global futures in David Mitchell's fictional worlds

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Date
08/09/2017
Author
Harris-Birtill, Rose
Keywords
David Mitchell
Reincarnation
Time
Buddhism
Literature
Literature and capitalism
Literature and criticism
Contemporary fiction
The Bone Clocks
Ghostwritten
Cloud Atlas
Slade House
Number9dream
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
Black Swan Green
Marinus
Bodhisattva
Anthropocene
Nietzsche
contemporary literature
Speculative fiction
Philosophy
Philosophy of time
Fiction
British literature
English literature
Samsara
Capitalism
Literary theory
Critical theory
PR English literature
T-NDAS
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Abstract
This essay explores the trope of reincarnation across the works of British author David Mitchell (b.1969) as an alternative approach to linear temporality, whose spiralling cyclicality warns of the dangers of seeing past actions as separate from future consequences, and whose focus on human interconnection demonstrates the importance of collective, intergenerational action in the face of ecological crises. Drawing on the Buddhist philosophy of samsara, or the cycle of life, death, and rebirth, this paper identifies links between the author’s interest in reincarnation and its secular manifestation in the treatment of time in his fictions. These works draw on reincarnation in their structures and characterisation as part of an ethical approach to the Anthropocene, using the temporal model of ‘reincarnation time’ as a narrative strategy to demonstrate that a greater understanding of generational interdependence is urgently needed in order to challenge the linear ‘end of history’ narrative of global capitalism.
Citation
Harris-Birtill , R 2017 , ' 'Looking down time's telescope at myself': reincarnation and global futures in David Mitchell's fictional worlds ' , KronoScope: The Journal for the Study of Time , vol. 17 , no. 2 , pp. 163-181 . https://doi.org/10.1163/15685241-12341382
Publication
KronoScope: The Journal for the Study of Time
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1163/15685241-12341382
ISSN
1567-715x
Type
Journal article
Rights
© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2017. This work has been made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the author created manuscript and as such may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at: https://doi.org/10.1163/15685241-12341382
 
© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2017. This work has been made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the author created manuscript and as such may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at: https://doi.org/10.1163/15685241-12341382
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  • University of St Andrews Research
URL
http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/10.1163/15685241-12341382
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/11633

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