Abstract: The sense of time of modernity is the core connotation of modernity.The totem of time has been appearing more frequently in various forms in theBritish Desert Island novels.The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe expresses an optimistic attitude toward the sense of time of modernity while Gulliver’s Travels questions the blind belief in it.Since the 19th century,British Desert Island novels have begun to alienate,oppose,and deconstruct the optimistic attitude toward it.The Beach manifests the futility of the contemporary men in releasing the bondage of simultaneity and pursuing the new sense of time.The “negation of negation” transformation throws light on the intensification of the paradox of modernity.

Key words: desert island novels, modernity, time totem, evolution, devolution