Kakokairos: A not-altogether-unserious theory of time, narrative, and autism

This dissertation considers the relations between time, narrative, and autism. Chapter 0 introduces a kinship model of autism and describes “aesthetic kinship,” the phenomenon of autistic readers recognizing fictional characters as autistic. Chapter 1 describes the eponymous theory of kakokairos, unpacking the contours of neurodivergent temporalities through analysis of Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse 5 and Ted Chiang’s Story of Your Life. Chapter 2 describes the theory and method of “time maps,” the graphs which are produced by graphing a narrative’s fabula against its syuzhet. Chapter 3 is a preliminary analysis of fifteen interviews with autistic adults about their experiences of time in narratives.