Conceptualizing Temporal Perception Through Henri Bergson’s ‘Duration’ in Anthony Neilson’s The Wonderful World of Dissocia

Mahmood, Asst. Lect. Nibras Ibrahim

doi:10.25130/Lang.10.2.P2.20

Conceptualizing Temporal Perception Through Henri Bergson’s ‘Duration’ in Anthony Neilson’s The Wonderful World of Dissocia

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Asst. Lect. Nibras Ibrahim Mahmood

Open Educational College, Salah Aldeen Centre, Samarra Branch, Samarra, Iraq

https://doi.org/10.25130/Lang.10.2.P2.20

Abstract

Time perception constitutes a central thematic concern in Anthony Neilson's The Wonderful World of Dissocia (2004), a play that follows Lisa as her psychological condition occurs between the realities of the external world and the magical realm of Dissocia. This study examines the dynamics of time perception by contrasting measured, or mechanical time with experienced, or psychological one. It aims to identify Henri Bergson's philosophical concept of "duration" as a framework for analyzing how the protagonist’s subjective consciousness affects the main character's view of time and how she experiences duration in her mind through recollecting the past. It explores that true time cannot be spatially limited within a fixed sequence of measured moments, but it is a qualitative, diverse, and rooted in inner existence. The play dramatically emphasizes that subjective perception of time is more experiential than measurable by presenting a character who is in a state of internal duality. Bergson's duration concludes that Neilson's play discloses those two opposing temporal modes of being rather than oneiric and realistic ones.

Keywords

Anthony Neilson

duration

Henri Bergson

memory

temporal perception