John Dos Passos's "Manhattan Transfer" seems to be set in the present time of its publication in 1925, but it is vague about dates, the passage of time, and when things are happening. The references I discussed to the song "Mother McCree" (which was published in 1910) and the sinking of the General Slocum (which took place in 1904) establish the scene they appear in as taking place sometime after 1910 – but then the lawyer George Baldwin reads a newspaper headline a few pages later: "Assassination of Archduke Will Have Grave Consequences. Austrian Army Mobilized." The assassination was on 28 June 1914, but Austria only mobilized its army on 28 July. (Andrew Shields, #111words, 21 January 2022)
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