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Coincidence and Fate (excerpt from Self Versus Self)

November 14, 2018

Some time ago, I told you about my unpublished Self Versus Self project. It is a literary project comprised of a literary-fiction novel and a narrative poem. It will remain unpublished, at least for the foreseeable future, due to its experimental nature. Its central theme revolves around coincidence and fate, and whether one can avoid them, adapt to them, or manipulate them.

coincidence and fate

Parenthetically, those interested in a more academic treatise of the issue, can find a short excerpt in my article on Frankenstein.

In today’s article, I’m using an excerpt from the narrative poem to talk a bit about fate and coincidence. Interestingly enough, the story is true and indeed occurred to my own late grandfather, exactly as it is portrayed.

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Theorizing Time in the Victorian Era

November 7, 2018

Note: the following article on time in the Victorian era is a modified excerpt (pp. 29-35) from my doctoral dissertation, “Time is Everything with Him”: The Concept of the Eternal Now in Nineteenth-Century Gothic, which can be downloaded (for free) from the repository of the Tampere University Press. For a list of my other academic publications, see here.

Theorizing Time in the Victorian Era: Changing the Scientific Paradigm

Theorizing Time in the Victorian era changed due to a series of scientific breakthroughs. Charles Lyell’s Principles of Geology, written in the early 1830s, as well as Charles Darwin’s 1859 On the Origin of Species, forced a reevaluation of history, suggesting the past had to be reconsidered.

In addition, the mid-century discovery of the second law of thermodynamics added further anxiety in relation to history and the future.

It was interpreted to imply the extinction of human life due to the exhaustion of usable energy – the so-called heat death of the universe. Suddenly, the existing definition, meaning, and destination of human existence seemed to be lacking. A dark, unfathomable past lay on the one side, while a rather ominous and equally uncertain future lay on the other.

time in the victorian era
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Writers and Twitter: A Bad Idea

October 29, 2018

Long-time readers of the blog might already know my attitude toward social media. If not, take a look at this article on Facebook, or my thoughts on Instagram. If you want the short version, here it is: I hate them. Now, the fact that I hate social media isn’t useful to anyone of you. But why I hate them might be. Today I want to tell you why writers and Twitter is a bad combination.

Writers and Twitter
It’s not just about attention. It’s about integrity and time. Writers and Twitter is not a great combination.
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