Abstract
Time, as something fluid and inconsistent, is one constant feature in the fiction of Robert Holdstock, and this chapter considers how time shapes the landscape of Mythago Wood, and affects the way the characters understand what is going on. The irregularity of time within the wood is comparable to the nature of time in storytelling, which ties in with the notion that to enter the wood is to enter into the realm of story, a world from which there is no return to everyday normality.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Works in the Mythago Wood sequence are indicated MW; works in the Merlin Codex are indicated MC.
- 2.
In addition to the sources shown below, I have relied on The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Fourth Edition edited by John Clute and David Langford, https://sf-encyclopedia.com/; and also on the Official Robert Holdstock website, https://robertholdstock.com/.
Bibliography
Fiction
Earthwind. 1977. London; Faber and Faber.
In the Valley of the Statues. 1982. London; Faber and Faber.
Secondary Sources
Kincaid, Paul. 1993. “Touching the Earth”. In Vector 175 (October/November 1993). 7–9.
Kincaid, Paul. 2009. “Of Time and the River”. In Call and Response. Harold Wood: Beccon Publications. 167–173.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kincaid, P. (2022). Time. In: Robert Holdstock’s Mythago Wood. Palgrave Science Fiction and Fantasy: A New Canon. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10374-2_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10374-2_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-10373-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-10374-2
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)