--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Tick is a humble genesis, tock a feeble…" description: "\"“Tick is a humble genesis, tock a feeble apocalypse; and tick-tock is in any case not much of a plot. We need much larger ones and much more complicate..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6dd/frank-kermode-16485_literary-criticism_tick-is-a-humble-genesis-tock-a-feeble-a_1679052.jpg" --- # Tick is a humble genesis, tock a feeble apocalypse; and… ![“Tick is a humble genesis, tock a feeble apocalypse; and tick-tock is in any case not much of a plot. We need much larger ones and much more complicated ones if we persist in finding 'what will suffice.' And what happens if the organization is much more complex than tick-tock? Suppose, for…” quote by Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6dd/frank-kermode-16485_literary-criticism_tick-is-a-humble-genesis-tock-a-feeble-a_1679052.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6dd/frank-kermode-16485_literary-criticism_tick-is-a-humble-genesis-tock-a-feeble-a_1679052.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6dd/frank-kermode-16485_literary-criticism_tick-is-a-humble-genesis-tock-a-feeble-a_1679052.jpg) > ““Tick is a humble genesis, tock a feeble apocalypse; and tick-tock is in any case not much of a plot. We need much larger ones and much more complicated ones if we persist in finding 'what will suffice.' And what happens if the organization is much more complex than tick-tock? Suppose, for instance, that it is a thousand-page novel. Then it obviously will not lie within what is called our 'temporal horizon'; to maintain the experience of organization we shall need many more fictional devices. And although they will essentially be of the same kind as calling the second of those two related sounds tock, they will obviously be more resourceful and elaborate. They have to defeat the tendency of the interval between tick and tock to empty itself; to maintain within that interval following tick a lively expectation of tock, and a sense that however remote tock may be, all that happens happens as if tock were certainly following. All such plotting presupposes and requires that an end will bestow upon the whole duration and meaning. To put it another way, the interval must be purged of simple chronicity, of the emptiness of tock-tick., humanly uninteresting successiveness. It is required to be a significant season, kairos poised between beginning and end. It has to be, on a scale much greater than that which concerns the psychologists, an instance of what they call 'temporal integration'--our way of bundling together perception of the present, memory of the past, and expectation of the future, in a common organization. Within this organization that which was conceived of as simply successive becomes charged with past and future: what was chronos becomes kairos. This is the time of the novelist, a transformation of mere successiveness which has been likened, by writers as different as Forster and Musil, to the experience of love, the erotic consciousness which makes divinely satisfactory sense out of the commonplace person.”” [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote argues that narrative must create a meaningful interval between events, turning simple chronological succession into a richer, emotionally resonant experience that integrates past, present, and future. **In simple terms:** Stories need meaningful gaps, not just simple time passing. Key Takeaway Design narratives that give each moment purpose. Themes storytelling temporal perception meaning emotion literature Mood reflective introspective analytical Type philosophical literary inspirational When to use this quote - novel writing - film editing - game design - marketing campaigns - personal life planning Key Concepts chronology kairos temporal integration expectation memory Questions to Reflect On - How can you make a pause feel purposeful? - What techniques keep anticipation alive? A Different Perspective If the interval is too long, audiences may lose interest despite complex structure. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Beginning And End](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beginning-and-end/) [Literary criticism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literary-criticism/) [Memory Of The Past](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/memory-of-the-past/) [Past and future](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/past-and-future/) ## Related quotes > [“Time crawls in the silence. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tock. Tock. Tock.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-mckay/time-crawls-in-the-silence-tick-tock-tick-tock-tick-tock-tock-tock/) [Emily McKay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-mckay/) > [Tick, tock,” whispers Wiress. I guide her in front of me and get her to lie down, stroking her arm to soothe her. 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And although they will essentially be of the same kind as calling the second of those two related sounds tock, they will obviously be more resourceful and elaborate. They have to defeat the tendency of the interval between tick and tock to empty itself; to maintain within that interval following tick a lively expectation of tock, and a sense that however remote tock may be, all that happens happens as if tock were certainly following. All such plotting presupposes and requires that an end will bestow upon the whole duration and meaning. To put it another way, the interval must be purged of simple chronicity, of the emptiness of tock-tick., humanly uninteresting successiveness. It is required to be a significant season, kairos poised between beginning and end. It has to be, on a scale much greater than that which concerns the psychologists, an instance of what they call 'temporal integration'--our way of bundling together perception of the present, memory of the past, and expectation of the future, in a common organization. Within this organization that which was conceived of as simply successive becomes charged with past and future: what was chronos becomes kairos. 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