The Phenomenology of Time in Classical Tamil Poetry

Harris, Gardner 2018. The Phenomenology of Time in Classical Tamil Poetry. Asian Literature and Translation (ALT) 5 (1) , pp. 104-126. 10.18573/alt.32

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Abstract

This essay explores the ways in which the human experience of time is articulated in the akam or love genre of caṅkam or classical Tamil poetry (ca. 100 BCE-450 CE). In particular, it focuses on the use of images from five landscapes (tiṇai) of the Tamil countryside to convey the impact emotion has on the phenomenological experience of time. I argue that the images used in the poems of this highly conventionalized genre express an experience of time that is either protracted, compressed, or somewhere in between depending on the emotional wellbeing of the heroine. The translations and discussion of six poems posit the notion that akam poetry is as much about the experience of time as it is about the experience of emotion, as they are not entirely distinct.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	History, Archaeology and Religion
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PM Hyperborean, Indian, and Artificial languages P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN0441 Literary History Q Science > QC Physics
Publisher:	Cardiff University Press
ISSN:	2051-5863
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	8 January 2019
Date of Acceptance:	1 March 2018
Last Modified:	05 May 2023 12:33
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/118196

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