Table Of ContentOUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,18/12/2015,SPi
Time in Fiction
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,18/12/2015,SPi
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,18/12/2015,SPi
Time in Fiction
Craig Bourne and Emily Caddick Bourne
1
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,18/12/2015,SPi
3
GreatClarendonStreet,Oxford,OX26DP,
UnitedKingdom
OxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentoftheUniversityofOxford.
ItfurtherstheUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellenceinresearch,scholarship,
andeducationbypublishingworldwide.Oxfordisaregisteredtrademarkof
OxfordUniversityPressintheUKandincertainothercountries
©CraigBourneandEmilyCaddickBourne2016
Themoralrightsoftheauthorshavebeenasserted
FirstEditionpublishedin2016
Impression:1
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedin
aretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,withoutthe
priorpermissioninwritingofOxfordUniversityPress,orasexpresslypermitted
bylaw,bylicenceorundertermsagreedwiththeappropriatereprographics
rightsorganization.Enquiriesconcerningreproductionoutsidethescopeofthe
aboveshouldbesenttotheRightsDepartment,OxfordUniversityPress,atthe
addressabove
Youmustnotcirculatethisworkinanyotherform
andyoumustimposethissameconditiononanyacquirer
PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyOxfordUniversityPress
198MadisonAvenue,NewYork,NY10016,UnitedStatesofAmerica
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
Dataavailable
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2015948042
ISBN 978–0–19–967531–9
PrintedinGreatBritainby
ClaysLtd,StIvesplc
LinkstothirdpartywebsitesareprovidedbyOxfordingoodfaithand
forinformationonly.Oxforddisclaimsanyresponsibilityforthematerials
containedinanythirdpartywebsitereferencedinthiswork.
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,18/12/2015,SPi
For mops, pops and family
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,18/12/2015,SPi
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,18/12/2015,SPi
Preface
Once upon a time, around eight years ago, we had our first conversation about
fictionaltime.Itwasabouthowseriouslytotakethepasttenseincertainwritten
fictions, and whether stories should generally be understood as reporting what
has already fictionally happened. What we said then has not made it into this
book, but it began an interest which was initially in fiction and tense, and
expanded as we came to see how other questions about time and about fiction
interact,andhownewquestionscanbegeneratedattheintersectionofthesetwo
areasofphilosophy.
The opportunity to review Robin Le Poidevin’s book The Images of Time
(OxfordUniversityPress,2007)madeusawareofhowrichthetopicoffictional
time could be, and it motivated much of our thinking. (The review appears in
PhilosophicalQuarterly(2010),60:201–4.)Eventhoughmostofourdiscussions
ofLePoidevin’sviewsendinusdisagreeingwithhim,ourbookwouldnothave
been written were it not for his work. We have benefited enormously from
Robin’s identification of the complexities and possibilities inherent in a philo-
sophical approach to time in fiction, as well as from the conversations we have
hadwithRobinaboutthetopicovertheyears.
OurothermajorintellectualdebtistoDavidLewis,whoseviewshaveinspired
muchofourapproach.Aswenotethroughout,however,ourapproachisoftenin
important and substantial respects different from Lewis’s, not least in the role
thatpossibleworldsplayinunderstandingfiction.
Aside from questions about the contents of this book, the question we have
beenaskedmostoftenishowwehavegoneaboutco-authoringthisbook.Apart
from the first two introductory chapters, pretty much every sentence has been
written together. This method of writing is unusual in philosophy but to those
philosophers who have a partner with the same temperament and who are in
circumstanceswhichallowforit,wehighlyrecommendthiswayofworking.
Wearegratefultotheaudiencesatvarioustalks,seminars,andconferencesat
which versions of some of the chapters have been presented. Versions of
Chapter3 were presented at the University of Hertfordshire in 2008 and the
University of Cambridge in 2009. Versions of Chapter4 were presented at a
conference on The Open Future at the Universityof Barcelona in 2011, at Meiji
University and the British Council in Tokyo in 2012, at the Shakespeare anni-
versary conference Shakespeare 450 in Paris in 2014, and at a conference we
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,18/12/2015,SPi
viii PREFACE
organizedonShakespeare:ThePhilosopheratHertfordshirein2014.Aversionof
partsofChapters6and7waspresentedatHertfordshireandBirkbeck,University
of London in 2011. A version of Chapter7 was presented at the How the Light
GetsInphilosophyfestivalatHay-on-Wye,Walesin2012,andatUniversityof
Rijeka,Croatiain2013.PartsofChapter8and14werepresentedataconference
on Ways of Knowing: Art and Science at Hertfordshire in 2010, which was
published as conference proceedings: ‘On What We May Infer from Artistic
and Scientific Representations of Time’ in Writing Visual Culture [formerly
Working Papers in Design], vol. 5: Ways of Knowing (2012). A version of
Chapter9waspresentedataworkshoponArtandthePhilosophyofTimeatthe
UniversityofNottinghamin2014.AversionofpartsofChapter10waspresented
atCambridgein2010ataworkshoponMarkSainsbury’sFictionandFictional-
ism.AversionofChapter11waspresentedatHertfordshirein2011.Earlymaterial
forChapter12onindefinitenesswaspresentedattheJointSessionoftheAristotel-
ianSocietyandMindAssociationin2009,andaversionofChapter12wasgivenata
conference on Modal Metaphysics: Issues on the (Im)possible at the Institute of
Philosophy, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava in 2013. A version of
Chapter13waspresentedataworkshoponScientificModelsandEverydayThinking
on the occasion of Elliott Sober’s Francis Bacon Lecture at the University of
Hertfordshire in 2011. And there have been many other informal presentations
and conversations at the institutions where we have worked while writing this
book: the University of Cambridge, Birkbeck, and the Institute of Philosophy at
the Universityof London, and especially the University of Hertfordshire. Weare
gratefulforthosediscussionswithourfriends,students,andcolleagues.
Parts of Chapter5 are reproduced with kind permission from Springer Science+
BusinessMedia:AroundtheTree:SemanticandMetaphysicalIssuesConcerning
Branching and the Open Future, ‘Fictional Branching Time?’, Synthese Library
Vol.361,2013,81–94,editedbyFabriceCorreiaandAndreaIacona,Dordrecht:
Springer,andwearegratefulforcommentsonthatchapterfromtheeditors.
There are many philosophers and other friends who have been significant to
us while writing the book, whether for their conversations about or interest in
its contents, or for their support and company in general. They include
Sam Coleman, Tim Crane, Gregory Currie, Ian Duncan, Stacie Friend, Oren
Goldschmidt,DanHutto,ClareJarmy,DavidKelnar,RebeccaLingwood,Derek
Matravers, Hugh Mellor, Sandra Nelson, Alex Oliver, James Sharp, Cait and
AnnabelledeWinterandfamily,ourvariousfictionalfriends,andourfamilies.
Emily is grateful for the support of a Jacobsen Research Fellowship at the
Institute of Philosophy from 2011 to 2014, and to the Arts and Humanities
ResearchCouncilforfundingearlierPhDresearchwhichhasfedintothisbook.
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,18/12/2015,SPi
PREFACE ix
Craig is grateful for the support of a University of Hertfordshire Social
Sciences, Arts and Humanities Research Institute (SSAHRI) Award from 2010
to2011.
Lastly,wewouldliketo thanktwoanonymousreadersforOxford University
Press—whose positive feedback and constructive criticism have been helpful in
preparing the final version, not just where this is mentioned explicitly but at
severalotherpointsaswell—andPeterMomtchiloffforhissupport,enthusiasm,
andpatiencethroughout.
