The Category of Time and Utopian Time as Exemplified by the Novels of A. Veltman, V. Odoevsky, D. Glukhovsky

Abstract

This article attempts to categorize the concept of utopian time in its relationship to historical time, understood as real, linear human time, and to universal time, understood as mythical or divine time. Given this opportunity to define the specific semantic field in which the concept of utopian time can function, it becomes crucial to describe the relationship between space and time and to ask whether we can speak of utopian time or rather of time in utopia.  Three novels from the realm of Russian literary utopia of the 19th and 21st centuries were selected as research material: The Year MMMCDXLMMMCDXLVIII: a manuscript by Martin Zadek by Alexander Veltman, The Year 4338: Petersburg Letters by Vladimir Odoevsky, and Future by Dmitry Glukhovsky. Each of the novels mentioned here treats time categories differently: juxtaposing them, ranking them, and complementing them. Do such temporal devices in the indicated works share any common patterns in understanding the developmental trends of the world and its people, or do they define ‘their own time’ and its understanding? The text herein presented attempts to answer this question.