Relevant Works
Frankenstein
The Time Machine
The First Men In The Moon
The War Of The Worlds
The Shape Of Things To Come
The War In The Air
The World Set Free
The Future History
Magic, Inc.
Wells coined the terms, "Time Machine," "Time Traveller" and "time travelling" (later shortened to "time travel.") Mark Twain, writing before Wells, had used the phrase, "transposition of epochs." (Twain and L. Sprague de Camp are another two Anderson predecessors although specifically on time travel.)
When a fictional character living in 1810 is told that someone has "jumped" from 1810 to 1684, he should not immediately respond, as we would, with the phrase, "time travel." That is anachronistic. It happens in Tim Powers' The Anubis Gates.
I must finish rereading The Anubis Gates. Tomorrow, to celebrate a birthday, two of us will travel by train around Morecambe Bay. There should also soon be a family visit to a cinema to see The Odyssey. More myth.
4 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
One thing I don't understand is why you keep overlooking Jules Verne (d. 1905). He too was a founding ancestor of modern science fiction, authoring works like 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON, JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, etc.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
But I don't see Verne as a predecessor of Anderson.
Paul.
Well, he was in a general sense in that he helped create the genre of SF.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling and Paul!
Mr. Stirling: Exactly! And not only that, Verne was writing SF before Wells.
Paul: And besides what Stirling commented above, Verne, because of his interest in technology, was a predecessor of Anderson in writing hard science fiction, esp. in 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA and FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON.
Btw, I've started rereading Powers' THE ANUBIS GATES, my copy being the 1997 Ace Books trade paperback. The front cover has a blurb from Anderson, in uppercase: "AN ALTOGETHER WONDERFUL EXTRAVAGANZA." Apparently, he liked the book!
Went Barnes & Noble yesterday, still not a single example of any of Anderson's works and far too many of Asimov's overrated stuff. I'm getting seriously ticked off at Anderson's estate!
I did order a copy of Alexander Solzhnitsn's MARCH 1917, vol. 4. Next comes the two vols. of APRIL 1917 that he completed before he died (when trans. and pub. in English).
Ad astra! Sean
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