Time/times

[Xinfu]

-That interest has yielded the first four volumes of a projected five-book study of Dostoevsky's life and times and writing.
-That interest has yielded the first four volumes of a projected five-book study of Dostoevsky's life and time and writing.

Are they the same in meaning?

[poli]

Life and times is the term used,

[Xinfu]

Thank you for the answer, but do you mean the singular is wrong here? Does times, the plural, mean different periods of difficulty?

[wrholt]

Yes, the singular "time" is wrong here. "Times" does not have an independent meaning in the idiom/expression "life and times".

In reference to biographies as a literary genre, the expression "the life and times of [a person]" refers to the combination of the direct experiences of that person and the significant events in the world at large, and how the two sets of events interacted, that is, how the person's actions affected the larger world AND how events in the larger world affected the person as an individual.

[Xinfu]

Good answer. Thank you.