It's all over literature. I first noticed it from the book A Tale For the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki a couple years ago. Ever since, I think I've come across this phrase in nearly every book I've read. I thought this was just a coincidence at first. But it's almost like the real version of Stranger Than Fiction's "little did he know." As Hoffman's character wrote papers and taught a class on "little did he know," so too will I conquest to create a tundra-like database of "for the time being." There's so much I've lost. But I might as well start now, if not never.
Martin Amis - The Information
"Her mother was still around for the time being, fat and falling apart and still mountainously pretty somehow, in a bed somewhere."So. Much like my Literary Chicago project, I'm going to try to keep track of this phrase being used and how authors use it. Do they actually reference what their 'for the time being' foreshadows? Or is it a throw away? A red herring?
Speaking of that other project, this novel is ripe with Chicago references. For a taste:
"He reread:
To recap: The itinerary is New York, Washington, Miami, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Boston, New York.
Denver. Why Denver?"
