A recurring physical landmark can anchor a novel’s historical longue durée

Evidence

No matter where you were … it was possible to see the Crystal Palace tower, soaring over the landscape, appearing and disappearing between the buildings … a reminder of that long-ago glass kingdom, which was rebuilt on the south side of the Thames after its arduous horse-drawn journey. — Anna Kornbluh, Immediacy, or The Style of Too Late…, 347

Categorization

• QUESTION: The Crystal Palace quote reverses temporal markers — ‘soaring’ present tense against ‘long-ago glass kingdom’ — is Kornbluh reading Evans as deliberately confusing time layers here?