For many people the pandemic has squashed the weekly rhythm into an interminable present
The episode, says David Henkin, suggests how fragile a sense of time can be—especially when it comes to weeks. Unlike months or years, these seven-day groupings have no real basis in astronomy. People from Nigeria to China have thrived without them. And yet the week has become the measure not only of routine, but even of sanity.
His new book shows how the week came to rule the world. Until the 19th century, he explains, the other days were a preamble to the Sabbath for many Protestants. Catholics followed a cycle of feast days and fasts. When newspapers, factory schedules and weekly paydays were all rarer, the weekly structure was less important. People got muddled, not just underground. As late as 1866, theIn outline, the story is one of urban development.
That sort of conviction is now crumbling. French and Russian revolutionaries ultimately failed in their attempts to abolish the seven-day week, but for many people the pandemic has squashed the weekly rhythm into an interminable present. Monday, runs the joke, has been replaced by Noneday. As Netflix offers entertainment on a whim, and morning newspapers become obsolete, Mr Henkin argues that “the hold of the week on our lives loosens, and our place in the cycle becomes in turn less memorable.
This article appeared in the Books & arts section of the print edition under the headline "The seven-day itch"
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