front cover of The Nick of Time
The Nick of Time
Politics, Evolution, and the Untimely
Elizabeth Grosz
Duke University Press, 2004
In this pathbreaking philosophical work, Elizabeth Grosz points the way toward a theory of becoming to replace the prevailing ontologies of being in social, political, and biological discourse. Arguing that theories of temporality have significant and underappreciated relevance to the social dimensions of science and the political dimensions of struggle, Grosz engages key theoretical concerns related to the reality of time. She explores the effect of time on the organization of matter and on the emergence and development of biological life. Considering how the relentless forward movement of time might be conceived in political and social terms, she begins to formulate a model of time that incorporates the future and its capacity to supersede and transform the past and present.

Grosz develops her argument by juxtaposing the work of three major figures in Western thought: Charles Darwin, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Henri Bergson. She reveals that in theorizing time as an active, positive phenomenon with its own characteristics and specific effects, each of these thinkers had a profound effect on contemporary understandings of the body in relation to time. She shows how their allied concepts of life, evolution, and becoming are manifest in the work of Gilles Deleuze and Luce Irigaray. Throughout The Nick of Time, Grosz emphasizes the political and cultural imperative to fundamentally rethink time: the more clearly we understand our temporal location as beings straddling the past and the future without the security of a stable and abiding present, the more transformation becomes conceivable.

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Nick of Time
Women Write about Art and Aging
Julie Landsman
University of Minnesota Press, 2026

A bold, collective portrait of the sustaining force of art while aging

Nick of Time celebrates the artistic community of the Twin Cities and the wisdom that comes with age. Bringing together the voices of women creatives over the age of sixty-five, this collection is as varied as the artists’ vocations, spanning from narrative prose to poetry, essay, monologue, letters, historical reflection, and more. As the contributors examine their lived experiences, hopes and regrets, joy and grief while traversing their last decades of life, they serve as a guiding beacon for others navigating the intersection of creativity and aging—as well as a ballast against its inevitable challenges. They write with refreshing honesty about feeling invisible in older age, receiving late recognition, or being dismissed as hair turns gray and wrinkles appear. Their openness provides strength and support for us all.

A beautiful collection of pieces from established and emerging writers, painters, singers, photographers, musicians, playwrights, dancers, sculptors, and beyond, Nick of Time traces the contours of both the commonalities and the differences that can be found in the creative life of an aging artist. This generous book is a provocative meditation on finding power in age, demonstrating that creativity is an integral part of a full life as well as a lifelong pursuit.

Contributors: Shari Albers, Hend Al-Mansour, Hazel Belvo, Chris Cinque, Venus de Mars, Julia Dinsmore, Mary Moore Easter, Jan Elftmann, Georgia A. Greeley, Kathryn Haddad, Kim Hines, Carolyn Holbrook, Adar Kahin, Deborah Keenan, Amoke Kubat, Fiona McCrae, Teresa Ortiz, Rebecca Pavlenko, Marcie R. Rendon, Joyce Sutphen, Suzanne Thao, JoAnn Verburg.

Retail e-book files for this title are screen-reader friendly.

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