Loss Of Innocence

Poul Anderson, Time Patrol (New York, 2006); The Shield Of Time (New York, 1991).

"It was a peculiar feeling to read the headlines and know, more or less, what was coming next. It took the edge off, but added a sadness, for this was a tragic era." (TP, p. 17)

("...more or less..." because it is impossible to know in advance or to remember every single detail, like the entire text of a news report.)

Here again is the theme of loss of innocence that pervades the Time Patrol series. Everard has returned to 1955 from the Patrol Academy in the Oligocene, where he had studied:

"...history, science, arts and philosophies, fine details of dialect and mannerism...for the 1850-2000 period..." (TP, p. 13)

Thus, he returns to 1955 already knowing what will happen in 1969 and 1989. Anderson, writing in 1955, cannot tell us this but Everard knows it. In 1987, Everard's colleague, Shalten, refers to Gorbachev and glasnost (ST, p. 75) as then current issues but Everard would already have known of them when he read those headlines in 1955.

And that is quite a thought.