Experience of time: reflexions on historical temporality on the essay writing of Bertrand Russell

Abstract

Since François Hartog, in his work, Regimes of historicity, expressed the analysis of experiences of time, a lot has evolved on the discussion about its limits and possibilities in this model of historical interpretation. Hence, what I propose in this paper is a reflection on the subject of the identity construction on the experimentation of periods. Therefore, I will work with the British philosopher Bertrand Russell’s essays, ordered in the collection Portraits from memory & other essays, aiming to demonstrate how historical time is deeply knit with subjective time, ordered by the narrative. The reflections disposed here will be divided into three moments: (1) the brief explanation on the period of historical crise that Cold War was, (2) how this context of tension is used by Russell to build his identity, and, finally, (3) the relationship between essay writing, in its narrative aspect, and the elaboration of human temporality. Ending with the dissociation of the self with its contexts in experiences of time.