New Books Network Gillian Adler and Paul Strohm, "Alle Thyng Hath Tyme: Time and Medieval Life" (Reaktion, 2023)
Dec 26, 2025
Gillian Adler, a scholar of medieval literature and assistant professor at Sarah Lawrence College, delves into how medieval people experienced time in diverse dimensions—continuous, cyclical, and even cosmic. She contrasts this nuanced understanding with today's clock-driven approach, exploring how medieval rhythms were closely tied to religion and nature. From the development of mechanical clocks to communal rituals, Adler reveals insights on reclaiming a qualitative sense of time, encouraging listeners to embrace cyclical experiences to counter modern exhaustion.
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Multiplicity Of Medieval Time
- Medieval people navigated multiple overlapping time systems simultaneously: natural, liturgical, and emerging mechanical time.
- This plural temporal fabric gave them flexible senses of duration, rhythm, and interior experience that resist a single standardized clock view.
Switching Between Linear And Cyclical Time
- The medieval temporal landscape allowed people to shift between linear and cyclical time, providing resilience against a single dominant timetable.
- Adler argues this flexibility suggests modern societies could reclaim qualitative rhythms to resist the tyranny of standardized efficiency.
Book Born During COVID Lockdown
- Adler and Paul Strohm started the book during COVID lockdown and felt altered daily rhythms firsthand.
- Their lockdown experience sharpened interest in plural temporalities and how different rhythms coexist.