Anachronisms

Anachronisms occur in fiction when the attempt to recreate the past is disrupted by the use of a word or reference to an object or some other feature that does not belong properly to that time.

Of course, we silently pass over the implausibility of ancient Romans speaking in Elizabethan English. That's not the issue. But careless historical writing can be jarring to the alert reader.

        Brutus:  Peace!  Count the clock.
        Cassius: The clock hath stricken three.
      

But what is perhaps more amusing is the retroactive anachronism, in which a modern reader is thrown into confusion by a seeming occurrence of anachonism in a text or other fiction, which is often explainable by the way that word and their meanings have wandered apart.

Here are a few pseudo-anachronisms:

• "Beatrice Addressing Dante From the Car", a painting by William Blake [1757-1827]; but not an early example of texting while driving! The word 'car', now exclusively used for automobiles, formerly referred to conveyances such as a cart or wagon.

Last revised on 13 December 2020.