What is the relation of time to the experience of freedom in Atwood’s “Oryx and Crake?” How does the novel *INTERNALLY* use disparate time periods (pre-collapse/post-collapse) to alert the reader to a baseline ontological openness? (In other words, to make the point to the reader that even when things seem dire, there is still hope for contingent miracles, because no authority–like Crake or God–is complete unto themselves.)
I understand there’s a huge presupposition within this question–I’m already presupposing that the novel does something with time. First, I would need to prove that it does what I claim then show how it does that.
I think this is a rich topic, though I’m a bit adrift as to how you will moor these big philosophical categories and questions (freedom, time, ontological openness) to the specifics of Atwood’s novel). But there’s a lot you can do. On the “freedom” side, there are contrasts between the Promethean freedom of Crake, the anarchic freedom of the Pleeblands denizens, the Rousseavian freedom of the Crakers, and so on. And the different time schemes would seem to underscore (as you argue here, if I’m following you) the way different times open/close different avenues to “freedom.”
So yes: go for it! The Jameson piece we discussed is worth checking out, and the intro to his ARCHAELOGIES OF THE FUTURE will give you some helpful theoretical framing (and give you a jump, perhaps, on Prof Glick’s class).