Recent future?

Question

Greetings,I was reading A Small Town in Germany by John le Carre. Not a few pages into it, I read "recent future." It is even on the jacket!What does it mean?Can I say "Recently I will make a reservation."?Thanks.Kang

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]Greetings, I was reading A Small Town in Germany by John le Carre. Not a few pages into it, I read "recent future." It is even on the jacket! What does it mean?[/nq]
It's a while since I read it. I think it was a device to indicate the book was fiction, but not too far removed from reality. Len Deighton set the action of one of his novels as occurring on the 31st of June.
John Dean
Oxford

Usenet · Answer

Kang:
[nq:2]I was reading A Small Town in Germany by John ... I read "recent future." It is even on the jacket![/nq]
John Dean:
[nq:1]It's a while since I read it. I think it was a device to indicate the book was fiction, but not too far removed from reality. Len Deighton set the action of one of his novels as occurring on the 31st of June.[/nq]
Similarly, Terry Gilliam's movie Brazil took place "somewhere in the 20th century".

Mark Brader, Toronto > "This is an excellent opportunity for (Email Removed) > out-of-context quoting..." Mike Hardy

Usenet · Answer

Kang wrote on 10 Aug 2004:
[nq:1]Greetings, I was reading A Small Town in Germany by John le Carre. Not a few pages into it, I read "recent future." It is even on the jacket! What does it mean?[/nq]
That's a good question. I've never heard or seen anyone use this highly illogical and contradictory phrase, but if you Google "the recent future", you will discover that lots of people do use it, so it must be idiomatic to some people. I can't understand why, though. It's an ugly phrase and, to me, a stupidity. The OED2CDv3 doesn't have anything that suggest a meaning of "near" or "upcomingness" for "recent"; it's a past form, AFAIK.
It can be found in a book on phenomenology:
Phenomenology of Perception (Routledge Classics)
by Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Colin Smith (Paperback)
Excerpt from page 490 "... time remains the same because the past is a former future and a recent present, the present an impending past and a recent future, ..."
And in this title:
A/K/A: Jennifer Garner the Real Story (Instant Celebrity Biography!) by Maggie Marron (Paperback)
Excerpt from page 98 "... ALIAS IS REALLY JENNIFER'S WHOLE LIFE. HER PLANS FOR THE RECENT FUTURE INCLUDE WORKING, WORKING, AND, WELL. WORKING. 98 A/K/A: JENNIFER GARNER ..."
In this:
Travels in Four Dimensions: The Enigmas of Space and Time by Robin Le Poidevin (Hardcover)
Excerpt from page 86 "... is a local asymmetry in cyclic time, in that the recent past is not also the recent future. But there is one way of expressing the direction of ..."
and this:
Hope of Earth (Geodyssey)
by Piers Anthony (Paperback)
Excerpt from Back Matter "... of five million years ago to Modern mankind of the recent future. As with the prior volumes, I had a number of ..."
[nq:1]Can I say "Recently I will make a reservation."?[/nq]
You certainly can say it you've already written it, so the jump to speech is not difficult but it's not idiomatic English, IMHO, despite the usages I've provided above; you'd have to say "Soon I will make" or "Recently I made". Chinese-speakers tend to use "recently" as in your sentence.

Franke: EFL teacher & medical editor.
For email, replace numbers with English alphabet.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Greetings, I was reading A Small Town in Germany by John le Carre. Not a few pages into it, I read "recent future." It is even on the jacket! What does it mean?[/nq]
It means the writer was attempting to be clever. It is a stupid phrase that makes no sense.
[nq:1]Can I say "Recently I will make a reservation."?[/nq]
Only if you want people smirking when you say it. I wouldn't model my English after that of le Carre's if I were you. There are some better writers here in this group we can look to for examples of good wording. Or read James Joyce.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Kang wrote on 10 Aug 2004:[/nq]
[nq:2]Greetings, I was reading A Small Town in Germany by ... It is even on the jacket! What does it mean?[/nq]
[nq:1]That's a good question. I've never heard or seen anyone use this highly illogical and contradictory phrase, but if you ... the past is a former future and a recent present, the present an impending past and a recent future, ..."[/nq]
This example makes perfect sense:
recent future = the time period recently called future, exactly parallel with 'former future', 'recent present', and 'impending past'.
[nq:1]And in this title: A/K/A: Jennifer Garner the Real Story (Instant Celebrity Biography!) by Maggie Marron (Paperback) Excerpt from page 98 "... ALIAS IS REALLY JENNIFER'S WHOLE LIFE. HER PLANS FOR THE RECENT FUTURE INCLUDE WORKING, WORKING, AND, WELL. WORKING. 98 A/K/A: JENNIFER GARNER ..."[/nq]
IT sounds like the author meant 'recent plans for the future', and, intentionally or otherwise, twisted it around. Maybe the author was dwelling on the lag between interview and publishing.
[nq:1]In this: Travels in Four Dimensions: The Enigmas of Space and Time by Robin Le Poidevin (Hardcover) Excerpt from page ... years ago to Modern mankind of the recent future. As with the prior volumes, I had a number of ..."[/nq]
In both of those, the authors are playing with the illogic of it.

In no case do I find the phrase ugly; rather, it is piquantly illogical.

john

Usenet · Answer

Thanks for the replies.

Recent future?

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions