Sunday, 10 June 2018

The History Of A House

When Wallis screams and disappears, that might be suicide. A mutant time traveler who wills himself into the past or future and does not stop for air will lose consciousness. Either he suffocates or he reverts to normal duration unconscious and maybe dies from other causes.

Wells' Time Traveler, flinging himself into futurity, sees:

night following day like a flapping wing;
his laboratory dropping away;
the sun crossing the sky in a minute;
an impression of scaffolding;
night and day a single grey;
the sun like an arch, swaying between solstices;
trees growing and passing;
huge buildings rising and passing;
white of snow and green of spring;
massive architecture of glimmer and mist;
permanent green.

Havig, held by his captors as they return uptime, sees:

Xenia, abandoned, reaching and becoming still;
someone stepping in;
confusion;
an empty chamber;
strangers in it;
the house torn down;
a larger house built and burned;
building after building;
faces and faces;
incandescence;
radioactive ash;
ruins.

In this and other passages, Anderson matches Wells.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And, in my opinion, Anderson SURPASSES Wells.

Sean