The middle of the 19th century, with its revolutionary disruptions, could be said torepresent the crowning of modernity. Modernity, which encompasses several separate movements in philosophy, has been exhaustively critiqued and has many facets, one of which could be said to be an overhaul in traditional temporal scheme – its shape, as well as its proper end. This overhaul had effects on societal self-understandings as far-reaching as in East Asia. In light of this particular consequence of modernity, this thesis will cover major works of two 19thcentury authors: Japanese novelist Natsume Sōseki and poet-playwright Paul Claudel. The particular point of critique will be how these two authors self-consciously respond to the modernist influence on their respective societies’ schemes of time, each influenced by the traditional value systems of Buddhism and Catholicism respectively, and then how their responses correspond to and conflict with one another.