Monday 13 May 2024

Anderson And Niffenegger

Audrey Niffenegger's Henry DeTamble time travels involuntarily back and forth within the lifetimes of himself and his wife, Clare. That is more than enough time travel to generate a romantic novel.

Poul Anderson's Jack Havig time travels volitionally through historical, contemporary and future periods and thus encounters sf plot elements other than that basic time travel premise. Niffenegger's time travel without a time machine within a contemporary lifetime is a minimal sf narrative. Her novel is both sf and romance, not just one of these genres as against the other, but is minimal sf. It has no sf cliches but these are not necessary for the genre in any case.

These two works share the premise of a single consistent timeline although Anderson also wrote a series based on the opposite premise.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I think volitional time traveling to be more interesting than what we see in Henry's case, given his inability to go when/where he pleases.

Ad astra! Sean