Bearing An Hourglass was published in 1984 and was written by Piers Anthony. 

Background:

Bearing An Hourglass is the second book of Anthony's Immortal Incarnations series. The series is set in a somewhat not too distant future where both science and magic evolved simultaneously. In other words, you will see a used car lot and above a flying carpet lot. The Incarnations of this series are considered incarnations of the "Day" and include in book order: Death (Thanatos); Time (Chronos); Fate (Clotho, Lachesis, Atropos - three spirits in one body); War (Mars); Earth (Gaea); Satan; God. The names as you can imagine are drawn from Greek mythology except for Satan and God who are part of the belief structure of the Christian faith. What is interesting is that incarnations are like bureaucratic jobs that a mortal can assume.  How a mortal enters the job is in some way connected to that job function. For example, Zane assumes the role of Death in the first novel, On A Pale Horse, by killing the previous office-holder with a bullet through the skull. As you progress through the series you discover that each incarnation is connected in a grander scheme between the Archangel Gabrielle and Satan, a contest established long ago. By the end of the last book, for yes even God is an incarnation, all of the incarnations of the day are gathered together, each current office-holder linked to each other by family blood or love, to make one important choice. I don't wish to spoil anymore as the series is quite good. I myself have been a long time fan and read the books multiple times. A bit geeky of me, I admit.

Norton:

For the purposes of this class, I have isolated Bearing An Hourglass from its context as book two in a series. As you can already glean, book two is about Time itself, the being that oversees it, the incarnation Chronos, and Norton is the man who assumes the job.

The selection I have chosen focuses on Norton when he first assumes the position, i.e. he picks up an abandoned hourglass, both the symbol of Chronos's office as well as his means of exercising his power. How did Norton come to be an incarnation? To be as brief as possible:

Norton was asked by a ghost to sleep with the ghost's wife, Orlene, so that the ghost might have a child. The ghost, Gawain, actually died young but was from a very wealthy family. In order to ensure the continuance of the family line, Orlene and Gawain had an arranged marriage. As a ghost, Gawain has not moved on and is very much floating around Norton's timeline. The supernatural is just as real as your computer monitor in this book series. Orlene and Norton end up falling in love and do have a child. Unfortunately for all concerned, before the child is born Gawain happens upon the Green Mother and as a favor to him, she alters the genetic structure of the child's DNA to match a combination of Orlene and Gawain. The child is born resembling the dead ghost. However, what the Green Mother missed and Gawain didn't realize was that he had a genetic defect that the child inherited. Subsequently, the child died, Orlene killed herself out of grief and to make amends for the suffering Norton has underwent, Gawain leads him to the point where he can become Chronos.^[1]

Not so brief after all.

Chronos:

Chronos is the Greek god of time, said to be the father of the Hourae (Hours), Aether (Upper Sky) and Eros (though other versions claim he is an offspring of Aphrodite, goddess of love). Though there are no well-known myths about this deities antics among mortals, the power of this god was never underestimated or underrated. A bit of a digression, but go here for an interesting look at Chronos as a mythological figure intertwining time theory (I stumbled upon this website and it has some interesting ideas that connect with this course).

So at last I come to the point, why are you reading an excerpt? Because as Chronos, Norton lives backwards. From the point he touched the hourglass he will go back in time until the day of his birth which for him is the day of his death. So what does it mean to live backwards? Look at Norton compared to the White Queen, he is unable to initially communicate or interact with anyone. He is completely removed from present time entirely. 

Also in this section, Sning makes an appearance. Sning is a snake ring that Orlene gave to Norton. It was actually given to her by her mother who in turn received it from a lover. I would love to say who but that is a huge series spoiler in my opinion.

Sning is actually alive and has the ability to answer any yes or no question. One squeeze of your finger for yes. Two squeezes for no. Three squeezes usually means Sning cannot answer. Sning often helps Norton figure things out.

Outside the Book: 

The concept of moving backwards through life is the subject of the movie starring Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, released December 2008. In this movie, Button is born old and as he grows, gets younger and younger. Slightly different from what happens with Norton but still a play on our traditional understanding of time's perceived progression from youth to age. 

In addition, there is a great website that you MUST check out for a bit of fun - http://chronos.ws/ - Chronos Technologies, Inc. This company claims to specialize in transdimensional research and other new technologies of the twenty-second century. Their slogan reads: "Making Tomorrow's History Today". Maybe Pickford had the right idea after all.

Proceed to questions >>>

posted by JM Venturini (instructor1) on 6/21/08