Some Kinds of "Time Travel"
(i) There is a curious sub-sub-genre of juvenile fantasy novels by English women writers whose protagonists are transported back and forth between their present and a particular past period. (See The Time Travel Archives.)
(ii) Circular causality paradox narratives, perfected by Robert Heinlein and Poul Anderson.
(iii) Narratives about time travelling organizations. The only one that I know of that makes any sense, although it remains extremely paradoxical, is Poul Anderson's Time Patrol series.
(iv) Personal relationships of time travellers:
Bid Time Return by Richard Matheson
The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
(v) Travellers exploring the future:
The Time Machine by HG Wells
"Flight to Forever" by Poul Anderson
"Welcome" by Anderson
"Time Heals" by Anderson
(vi) Characters transported into a past period when they either make some changes or fail to:
A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain
Lest Darkness Fall by L. Sprague de Camp
Bring The Jubilee by Ward Moore
"The Man Who Came Early" by Anderson
"The Little Monster" by Anderson
and a current series -
Make The Darkness Light by SM Stirling
I. To Turn The Tide
II. The Winds Of Fate
III. TBA
Stirling's series title seems to follow from de Camp's novel title. Stirling's characters are time travellers by design, not by accident. They have read the sf. They know what to take with them into the past and how to conduct themselves then - insofar as anyone can. This is not Anderson's Time Patrol. These are travellers who do change history for the better - so far.
Forward march.
Kaor, Paul!
ReplyDeleteI read all the stories in the second list except for CONNECTICUTT YANKEE and "TBA." And the stories in "v."
One thing to keep in mind about Artorius and his grad students is that they had not known Herr Doktor Fuchs was working on a time machine and was planning to shanghai them all to the Roman Empire of Marcus Aurelius' reign.
Ad astra! Sean
OK. It was only the Doktor that had a plan.
ReplyDelete(British readers remember Doctor Who.)
My position vis a vis TO TURN THE TIDE is that I had sight of a pre-publication draft text but have not yet read the published work. However, my copy is en route from eBay so that will soon be rectified.
ReplyDeleteKaor, Paul!
ReplyDeleteExactly, Artorius was lured to that Austrian research institution because of the Herr Doktor's misleading claims.
I hope you enjoy reading TO TURN THE TIDE, I certainly did! I read Chapter XV with esp. keen interest.
Ad astra! Sean
Yeah. The American historians don't anticipate getting stranded in the past... but they are. Vienna (and surrounding suburbs!) were fusion-bombed as they leave.
ReplyDeleteKaor, Mr. Stirling!
ReplyDeleteI remember that, and of how furious Artorius was at Fuch's deception. Because he had been lured into leaving his family at a moment of deadly peril.
Ad astra! Sean
I remember the fusion-bombing!
ReplyDeleteSean: Arthur/Artorius more or less assumes his wife and family are dead -- Amarillo has some military targets in it.
ReplyDeleteSpecifically, a nuclear-weapons assembly site and a tiltrotor factory.
ReplyDeleteKaor, Mr. Stirling!
ReplyDeleteI remember that, with Arthur/Artorius desperately wishing his family could have been safely on an obscure Pacific island. The best he felt able to hope for was the Chinese deciding Amarillo was not important enough to waste a bomb on.
Ad astra! Sean
Well, they're not deliberate time-travelers, but they know the SF and they've daydreamed about visiting the past. And they have Fuch's bundle of 'stuff', which was selected with considerable cleverness.
ReplyDeleteThe time travel is technological as opposed to a natural phenomenon like being struck by lightning etc. And the time travellers are well prepared by their knowledge of past time travel stories.
ReplyDeleteKaor, to Both!
ReplyDeleteYes, as regards Artorius and his grad students knowing the SF and how carefully Fuchs amassed the valuables and equipment he planned to take to the second century AD. I esp. recall the explicit mentioning of De Camp's classic LEST DARKNESS FALL.
I was hoping to see some Andersonian allusions, such as something about the cautionary tale, "The Man Who Came Early."
I was very amused Stirling quoted that orc sergeant's "Where there's a whip, there's a will..." from THE LORD OF THE RINGS.
Ad astra! Sean
Robby Coltrane did a TV ad where he played a guy making his aunt's kitchen sparkle with a new cleaning product. When she thanked him, he replied, "Auntie, where there's a WILL, there's a way!"
ReplyDeleteKaor, Paul!
ReplyDeleteI think "...where there's a WILL, there's a way" was the original form of the proverb Tolkien modified in LOTR.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
ReplyDeleteIt WAS, of course! But Robbie's character, addressing his aunt, was punning on "will."
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
ReplyDeleteOops, sometimes I miss the more subtle puns.
Ad astra! Sean