Chronotope, literally “time-space”, is a concept developed by Mikhael Bakhtin in “Forms of Time and of the Chronotope in the Novel”. In essence, it is a concrete whole in which there is a particular and visible relationship between space and time. In other words, it is a specific space and time with particular attributes. The source of those attributes is of interest to Bakhtin, as are the unique attributes themselves, especially in his thinking about the carnivalesque. Carnival time is a chronotope within which individuals lose a sense of individuality and see themselves or, perhaps more accurately, simply are a whole rather than an individual. In this context, class distinctions and societal norms, customs, and laws are discarded or actively violated.
Chronotope, I.E.
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