Book Section
Serial texts must repeat, so that they can be recognized, but they must also change, so that they can remain interesting. Unusual temporal manipulations can emerge in such texts in order to balance these contradictory demands. This essay studies two serial texts whose need for self-extension produces a suspension of historical time: the contemporary animated sitcom The Simpsons, and medieval romance as theorized by the twelfth-century poet Wace. I suggest that we might name this temporal constraint fiction.
Keywords: time; fiction; form; structure; serial; continuation; reproduction; iteration; narrative; television; medieval; The Simpsons
Rights: © by the author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Part of Re- Containing:
Preface / Arnd Wedemeyer, Christoph F. E. Holzhey
Recherche I / Julie Gaillard
Recherche II / Julie Gaillard
Recirculation / Cristina Baldacci
Recitation / Francesco Giusti
Recovery / Clio Nicastro
Reenactment / Cristina Baldacci
Rehabilitation I / Birkan Taş
Rehabilitation II / Birkan Taş
Renewal / Clio Nicastro
Repetition
Repetition / Arianna Sforzini
Repetition / Tom Vandeputte
Resistance I / Hannah Proctor
Resistance II / Hannah Proctor
Resistance / Tom Vandeputte
Resolution
Restrain / Christiane Frey
Reversion / Francesco Giusti
Revolution / Arianna Sforzini
Title
Repetition
Author(s)
Daniel Reeve
Identifier
https://doi.org/10.25620/ci-15_11
Description
Serial texts must repeat, so that they can be recognized, but they must also change, so that they can remain interesting. Unusual temporal manipulations can emerge in such texts in order to balance these contradictory demands. This essay studies two serial texts whose need for self-extension produces a suspension of historical time: the contemporary animated sitcom The Simpsons, and medieval romance as theorized by the twelfth-century poet Wace. I suggest that we might name this temporal constraint fiction.
Is Part Of
Re-
Place
Berlin
Publisher
ICI Berlin Press
Date
22 January 2019
Subject
time
fiction
form
structure
serial
continuation
reproduction
iteration
narrative
television
medieval
The Simpsons
Rights
© by the author(s)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Language
en-GB
page start
91
page end
97
Source
Re-: An Errant Glossary, ed. by Christoph F. E. Holzhey and Arnd Wedemeyer, Cultural Inquiry, 15 (Berlin: ICI Berlin Press, 2019), pp. 91–97

References

  • Green, Dennis H., The Beginnings of Medieval Romance: Fact and Fiction, 1150–1220 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002)
  • Putter, Ad, ‘Finding Time for Romance: Mediaeval Arthurian Literary History’, Medium Aevum 63 (1994), pp. 1–16 <http://doi.org/10.2307/43629612>
  • Wace, Roman de Brut: A History of the British, ed. and trans. by Judith Weiss, rev. edn, Exeter Medieval Texts and Studies (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2002)
  • The Simpsons, created by Matt Groening (Fox Broadcasting, 1989– )
  • The Simpsons, ‘Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington’, season 3, episode 2, dir. by Wes Archer (aired 26 September 1991)
  • The Simpsons, ‘Bart Gets an Elephant’, season 5, episode 17, dir. by Jim Reardon (aired 16 January 1994)
  • The Simpsons, ‘Who Shot Mr. Burns?’, season 6, episode 25, dir. by Jeffrey Lynch (aired 21 May 1995), and season 7, episode 1, dir. by Wes Archer (aired 17 September 1995)
  • The Simpsons, ‘You Only Move Twice’, season 8, episode 2, dir. by Mike Anderson (aired 3 November 1996)
  • The Simpsons, ‘The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons’, season 9, episode 7, dir. by Steven Dean Moore (aired 16 November 1997)
  • The Simpsons, ‘Holidays of Future Passed’, season 23, episode 9, dir. by Rob Oliver (aired 11 December 2011)

Cite as: Daniel Reeve, ‘Repetition’, in Re-: An Errant Glossary, ed. by Christoph F. E. Holzhey and Arnd Wedemeyer, Cultural Inquiry, 15 (Berlin: ICI Berlin Press, 2019), pp. 91-97 <https://doi.org/10.25620/ci-15_11>