The Sense of an Ending
Studies in the Theory of Fiction
Why we imagine ourselves living at the end of times, and what fiction does with that sense of an ending.
Frank Kermode’s Mary Flexner Lectures on why narrative needs endings. Beginning with the tick-tock of a clock, he argues that we impose form on formless time by inventing concords between beginning, middle and end, and that apocalyptic thinking is one such fiction, endlessly disconfirmed, endlessly rescheduled, never abandoned. The distinction he draws between myth, which is believed, and fiction, which is known to be provisional, runs through readings of Shakespeare, Spenser, Sartre and the modernist novel. The 2000 edition adds a new epilogue.
Recommended by 1 Person
John Gray
In the book, Kermode talks about myths and fictions – how they differ from one another, and how they play a role not only in literature but also in politics and history. He takes the view of the great 20th century poet Wallace Stevens that we find ourselves having to live on the basis of what we recognise to be fictions, and that fictions create meaning in human life that wasn’t there before.
Interview · March 2012
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