ENGL 817AL - Field Notes: Time's Arrow Thoughts

The third and final book for my "Literary Mind & the Artificial" class is Martin Amis' Time's Arrow. And, I would not even know where to begin in trying to explain what this book is about... I tried to explain it a bit to my husband (as I was trying to work my way through it), and he exclaimed: "What on earth are you reading??"—Honestly, babe, same! What a ride this book is.

So, instead, of trying to explain it, here is a list of general themes/topics that are in the book:

• time (in reverse)
• consciousness
• World War II
• doctors
• out of context world
• secrets
• guilt/shame

And, because I'm still trying to wrap my head around it ‒ even more so after discussing it in class ‒ here are a few of my thoughts about the book in no particular order (or possible coherence):

1. My first instinct as I started the book was that it was about another consciousness placed in the main (physical) character's head in an attempt/effort to seek out and determine some sort of specific detail or event. I assumed it was sci-fi because of the previous book we tackled: Neuromancer. Boy howdy, was I wrong; but this theory would have had merit and grounds if that was the way it was supposed to go.
   
   
2. As we discussed the end of the book in class, and how it appears that perhaps the consciousness is still there for the "re"birth of the physical character, I had a really horrible theory: maybe the consciousness, who is also the narrator of the book, is actual a psychopath personality that is later fractured from the character and that is why at first "he" appears so naive and out of context because "he" cannot function without proper access to the character that "he" has been fractured and cordoned off from.
   
   
3. The above theory works well and makes sense especially f you follow along with Dr. Lifton's psychological mechanism of "doubling" which one of the seminar presenters outlined for us. The mechanism allowed perpetrators in the death camps to "function in two distinct, contradictory ways: as 'rational' physicians within the camp system and as mass murderers". The consciousness "narrator" readers follow through the story is one of these "functions".
   
   
4. Time's Arrow is short, but it was like reading two books in one. I take lots of notes in a separate journal while I read to help me retain details and comprehend more difficult texts, and I was basically doing double time with Amis' book. Every time I was writing what I knew was to be the proper context, but then also having to relate it to what the narrator was experiencing out-of-context—and out of time! I can only imagine what I will try to make of my notes when I look back at this novel in three, or five years time.

With the novels for this class all read now, I am looking forward to revisiting them for the rest of the semester based on the topics for each week's seminar presentations and secondary readings! Especially when we get into discussing "What is an Author?"!