For the life of me I cannot figure out why I am wasting so much time on the subject of time, especially in view of the fact that many thinkers who are far better versed on the subject than I am have sworn that time does not even exist in the first place! But other experts swear that time exists in its own right. It would take me several lifetimes to catch up to the current position on time.
On the other hand, what difference does the subject matter make if art is for the sake of art? None. Even Nothing would do for a subject, and a far better subject to wax eloquent on without contradiction, for what does anyone really know about Nothing, or empty space, for that matter? Nothing! How absurd! However, seemingly absurd theories about time have gotten some serious results, so one has to brush up on what it's all about or leave oneself open for ridicule.
Maybe I should take time off from time and devote more time to 'Two Emmas.' Emma Woodhouse must be a bit miffed since I have devoted most of my time to Emma Bovary. But maybe not, maybe she thinks I am a dirty old man and is glad I've kept my mind off her. I think 'Two Emmas' might develop into a book. Why not? Sartre wrote three heavy volumes, The Family Idiot, 'about' Madame Bovary's creator. Some say Sartre was just using yet another occasion to write his intellectual autobiography.
So what is it about this boringly abstruse subject, time? Too many readers have already said I'm writing over their heads. Maybe it's just as well, because maybe I don't know what I am talking about! I usually think I do, however. I'm very careful to do my best to figure out complex subjects on my own, and then dig and dig and dig into the ideas of others far more advanced than I, at least until I come up with some brilliant breakthroughs! But time? I've got to be kidding! It's too complex. And one needs some higher language - like higher math, symbolic logic, that kind of stuff. I didn't get past basic algebra because I kept getting caught up in basic questions like, what are numbers, anyway?
I am still puzzled about time. Oh! Deja vu! I remember! Yes, I had a dream when I was a very young man: I was to find and read a book about clocks. I recall that the title was The Secret of the Workings of a Clock.
Best,
Elizabeth