The Voices of Time

KronoScope 8.1 (2008) 105–117 www.brill.nl/kron

The Voices of Time

The Voices of Time: A Cooperative Survey of Man’s Views of Time as Expressed by the Sciences and by the Humanities. 2nd. Edition. J.T. Fraser, Editor. With a new introduction by J.T. Fraser. The University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst, 1981

[KronoScope 7–2, 2007 completed the publication of contents and abstracts from volumes I–XII of the series, The Study of Time. In this issue, we look back to a seminalwork,TheVoicesofTime,andtothehistory,thelifeandthevisionofits editor, J.T.Fraser. Excerpts of reviews speak of the book’s impact and its achievement and an essay written by Dr. Fraser gives insight into the context, the impetus and themanydimensionsofthisremarkablecollection.—Ed.]

The Voices of Time:Reviews The provocative, informative and occasionally difficult essays in this book prove an excellent guide to man’s quest for fulfillment. They lead us sown a path that has no perceivable end in a journey that is endlessly fascinating. In the words of Mr. Fraser, “the search for the nature and meaning of time is a challenge second to none.” (Book Find News 1966 G.B. Levitas) This book, using the meaning and forms of time as the theme for twenty-seven original essays by world-wide specialists in a dazzling range of disciplines, provides a review of our accumulated knowledge and wisdom about the nature of time. (Saturday Review January 29, 1966. Ben Lieberman) “Together, the essays reinforce J.T. Fraser’s proposal for a new subscience—chronosophy, the study of time.” (The New York Times February 9, 1966 Alden Whitman) “Thissurveyofman’sviewsoftimeisaremarkablebook.Thesubjectisdauntinglydifficult, and its difficulties are nowhere disguised…. It consists of 27 essays by different authors, yet it preserves an unusual sense of artistic unity which it owes to the editor…. In his introduction he explains that the book is not the record of an achievement so much as the stimulus for an enterprise.”. (Lancet May 28, 1966 Lord Russell Brain) “This is a curious and deeply moving book…. ‘Tell me what you think of time and I shall know what to think of you’ says one of the spokesmen here.” (New York Herald Tribune, Chicago Herald, Washington Post.April17, 1966 Muriel Rukeyser)

The essays “have made no concession to popularization, but neither have they indulged in obscurity…. [The Editor] deserves the highest praise for bringing together in a single volume such a cluster of distinguished scholarship.” (Science,vol.152,April1966.F.C.Haber) “Almost every discipline is represented, from astronomy to linguistics, music to zoology, and almost every thinker is at least briefly considered, from Aristotle to Lorentz, Mao Tzu to Zeno…. [The Editor is] to be commended for performing a valuable service: bringing together under one cover these diverse interpretations of time….” (Choice May, 1966) The Voices of Time should be in the permanent collection of scholars, philosophers, scientists (whether in the natural, social or behavioral sciences), humanists and of every intelligent layman…. (Humanist September/October 1966 Henry Winthrop) I am not aware of any pervious occasion on which such a large number authors… have been commissioned to do just this, simultaneously. Many of the contributions are of the highest quality. (British Journal for the Philosophy of Science v. 17 No. 41967J.D. North) [it is] a compelling symphony. (The Psychoanalytic Quarterly Spring 1967 H. Robert Blank) The publication of J.T.Fraser’s The Voices of Time is a most important contribution to theory and research in this area; it is truly a remarkable and fascinating collection of essays on the nature of time in a variety of contexts. [The essays, organized] into four major sections on the relationship of time to philosophical thought, man, life, and matter gives structure and integration to this widely ranging, complex series of papers. (Arch.Gen.Psychiat.May,1967 Sidney J. Blatt) To encourage the epistemological reflections related to the structure of knowledge has been one of Mr. Fraser’s intentions; I am convinced that each reader will be astonished by the provocative force of this stimulating book in this aim. The main intention was, however, the search for a new study related to time…. The Voices of Time is both the first step and a great step toward such a new study. (ISIS 58.1.191 1967 Waldemar Voisé) I bought the American edition of The Voices of Time in New York two years ago. It moved me to write my last novel. (Oxford Mail January 1968 Brian Aldiss)