دانشگاه شهید بهشتی نقد زبان و ادبیات خارجی 20087330 23 36 2026 03 21 John Barth's The Sot-Weed Factor: A Time-Image Filmic Space, Embodying Henri Bergson's Duree John Barth's The Sot-Weed Factor: A Time-Image Filmic Space, Embodying Henri Bergson's Duree 65 74 106506 10.48308/clls.2025.242172.1393 FA شه تاو ناصری دانشگاه خوارزمی تهران محسن حنیف دانشگاه خوارزمی تهران Journal Article 2025 10 24 Exploring literary works based on media theories constitutes a major part of interdisciplinary studies. Gilles Deleuze’s notions on time-image cinema, a trend dominant after the Second World War, have provided a suitable platform for investigating postmodern novels. Using his theories as well as the filmic space of John Barth’s novel The Sot-Weed Factor (1960), the present study seeks to present it as a time-image crystalline narrative. No matter from which dimension we look at a crystal, we will simultaneously see the other dimensions, as well. Therefore, according to Deleuze, crystal displays the indistinguishable continuity and unity of the real and the virtual; that is why what we see in crystal is pure time (durée). Inspired by Henri Bergson, Deleuze considers the nature of time as qualitative, rather than quantitative, and sees durée as real time that is in continuous becoming. Characteristics such as pure heterogeneity, pure quality, the fusion of moments, incompatibility with determination and identification, and innumerability can be attributed to durée, a concept independent of the linear time discussed by Immanuel Kant. Relying on concepts such as crystal-image, the blurring of the boundary between history and fiction, the power of the false, and non-linear flashback, this article considers them as appropriate tools that have already rendered The Sot-Weed Factor a time-image cinematic space, embodying pure time and making its characters and readers (spectators) immediately intuit it. Exploring literary works based on media theories constitutes a major part of interdisciplinary studies. Gilles Deleuze’s notions on time-image cinema, a trend dominant after the Second World War, have provided a suitable platform for investigating postmodern novels. Using his theories as well as the filmic space of John Barth’s novel The Sot-Weed Factor (1960), the present study seeks to present it as a time-image crystalline narrative. No matter from which dimension we look at a crystal, we will simultaneously see the other dimensions, as well. Therefore, according to Deleuze, crystal displays the indistinguishable continuity and unity of the real and the virtual; that is why what we see in crystal is pure time (durée). Inspired by Henri Bergson, Deleuze considers the nature of time as qualitative, rather than quantitative, and sees durée as real time that is in continuous becoming. Characteristics such as pure heterogeneity, pure quality, the fusion of moments, incompatibility with determination and identification, and innumerability can be attributed to durée, a concept independent of the linear time discussed by Immanuel Kant. Relying on concepts such as crystal-image, the blurring of the boundary between history and fiction, the power of the false, and non-linear flashback, this article considers them as appropriate tools that have already rendered The Sot-Weed Factor a time-image cinematic space, embodying pure time and making its characters and readers (spectators) immediately intuit it. https://clls.sbu.ac.ir/article_106506_6578a39f5a65b0e5ccb0add1588233c3.pdf