Friday, 21 August 2020

Anachronisms II

Anon.
"Missing One's Coach or An Anachronism." See here.

Wells
"'Long ago I had a vague inkling a machine -'
"'To travel though Time!' exclaimed the Very Young Man.
"'That shall travel indifferently in any direction of Space and Time, as the driver determines.'
"Filby contented himself with laughter.
"'But I have experimental verification,' said the Time Traveler.
"'It would be remarkably convenient for the historian,' the Psychologist suggested. 'One might travel back and verify the accepted account of the Battle of Hastings, for instance!'
"'Don't you think you would attract attention?' said the Medical Man. 'Our ancestors had no great tolerance for anachronisms.'"
-HG Wells, The Time Machine (London, 1973), 1, p. 11.

Time traveling suggests:

"...curious possibilities of anachronism and of utter confusion..." (3, p. 17)

Lewis
"They walked about that village for two hours and saw with their own eyes all the abuses and anachronisms they came to destroy."
-CS Lewis, That Hideous Strength IN Lewis, The Cosmic Trilogy (London, 1990), pp. 349-753 AT CHAPTER 4, The Liquidation of Anachronisms, p. 436.

Anderson
"Everard was used to anachronism..."
-Poul Anderson, "The Only Game in Town" IN Anderson, Time Patrol (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 129-171 AT 1, p. 129.

"Entering, Everard found the interior cool, dim, anachronistic. Mahogany, marble, embroidered upholstery, deep carpet, maroon hangings, leather-bound books..."
-Poul Anderson, The Shield Of Time (New York, 1991), PART TWO, p. 66.

"They met downtown next morning, in the anachronistic opulence of the St. Francis Hotel lobby."
-The Shield Of Time, PART SIX, p. 430.

Past and present interestingly interact.

See also Anachronisms.

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I might have had Wells' Medical Man say something different. Such as "Our ancestors had no great tolerance for STRANGERS." Esp. strangers acting in peculiar, unfamiliar ways. E.g., Anderson's Carl Farness should have posed as a merchant among the Goths in "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth."

Ad astra! Sean

S.M. Stirling said...

Anachronism can be used both literal y (something out of its time) and metaphorically — something that -should- be not of this time.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Mr. Stirling!

I agree! And I think both writers and hardened readers tend to be sticklers about being PRECISE! (Smiles)

Ad astra! Sean