Enrique Lucio Eugenio Gaspar y Rimbau (2 March 1842 inMadrid – 7 September 1902 inOloron) was a Spanishdiplomat andwriter, who wrote many plays (zarzuelas), and one of the first novels involvingtime travel with a time machine,El anacronópete.[1]
Enrique Gaspar y Rimbau was born to parents who were well known actors. Upon the death of his father, Juan, he moved toValencia with his mother and two siblings. He studiedhumanities andphilosophy, though he never finished his studies, leaving to work in the commercial bank of themarqués of San Juan.
He had already written his firstzarzuela by the age of 13, and at 14 he was writer at theLa Ilustración Valenciana. When he was 15 his mother put on a performance of his first comedy. He moved to Madrid when he was 21 to dedicate himself to writing.
His peak years as a writer were 1868 to 1875, when he wrote operas for the consumption of thebourgeoisie rather than thearistocracy. During this time, he also wrote historical dramas, and he became a pioneer of socialtheatre in Spain. He had huge success for his comedies, but his real passion was social commentary, promoting the education of women and meaningful marriage. These plays were less successful because they were before their time.
When he was 23, Gaspar y Rimbau married Enriqueta Batllés y Bertán de Lis, a beautiful aristocrat, to the displeasure of her parents. After the birth of their second child, he entered the diplomatic corps, at the age of 27.
He spent time inGreece andFrance, then Madrid, and eventually served as consul inChina, first inMacau, and then inHong Kong. During this time, he continued to write and mount operas, in addition to writing forEl Diario de Manila.
Upon his return to Europe, he moved toOloron, in the South of France, though his family lived inBarcelona, where he put on an opera inCatalan. Later, he lived in various locations in the south of France. His wife died inMarseille, where he was consul. In poor health himself, he retired to Oloron with his daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren. He died there in 1902 at the age of 60.
Published in 1887 in Barcelona,El anacronópete (a neologism for "who flies against time") has become one of Gaspar y Rimbau's most important works. It is aSpanishscience fiction novel. This predates the publication ofThe Chronic Argonauts byH. G. Wells in 1888, his first story involvingtime travel using a machine, but is six years afterEdward Page Mitchell's 1881 storyThe Clock that Went Backward.
The novel, in the format of azarzuela, is one of the first to feature a machine that travels through time: the "anacronópete". The anacronópete is an enormouscast iron box, propelled by electricity, which drives four large pneumatical devices ending in tubes for travel, as well as powering other machinery, including something that produces theGarcía fluid, which causes the passengers not to grow younger as they travel backwards in time. The machine's interior also contains all kinds of conveniences including, among other marvels,brooms that sweep by themselves.
The machine provided the setting for a story in three acts, in which the following group of characters travels in time: don Sindulfo García, a scientist fromZaragoza and the inventor of the device; his friend and assistant Benjamín; Clara, don Sindulfo's niece andward; a maidservant; Captain Luis, Clara’s beloved; several Spanishhussars; and a number of old French women of "loose morals" that the mayor of Paris wants to rejuvenate so that they "regenerate" themselves.
In the first act, don Sindulfo explains his theory oftime: it is the atmosphere that causes time, as demonstrated by the conservation of food in hermeticcans. By flying fast against therotation of Earth, the machine can "undo" the passing of days. They leave Paris, from theWorld's Fair of 1878, and travel to theBattle of Tetuán in 1860. Luis's troop of hussars, that Clara expected would protect her against Sindulfo, has become children and disappear since they were not protected by the "fluid of inalterability". The machine departs, returning to Paris the day before they left, whereupon several "rejuvenated" French girls disembark.
In the second act, they again travel into the past, seeking the secret ofimmortality, stopping at various moments in history, such asGranada in 1492, where they recommend toQueen Isabella that she should listen toa certain Genovese gentleman, andRavenna in 690 (in order to obtain provisions). They end up in Ho-nan (Henan), China in 220, where Sindulfo expects that he will be able to force Clarita to marry him. The emperor Hien-ti shows the travellers that many inventions such as theprinting press andironships are already known. Since his empress Sun-Che has just died, he offers to exchange Clara for the secret of immortality. The empress had actually beenburied alive by her husband and happens to be the original of a Chinese mummy Sindulfo had bought and brought into the machine. Thus, she becomes free and wants to marry Sindulfo.
The characters have evolved, with Benjamín becoming obsessed with eternal life, don Sindulfo crazy with jealousy over Clara, and Clara in love with Captain Luis. Benjamín discovers that the disappearing hussars have reappeared again because their immortal spirits had not left the anacronópete and that Sindulfo's first wife was the same as the empress throughmetempsychosis. While they leave,Tsao Pi founds theOuei dynasty.
In the third act, after a stop inPompeii at the time ofVesuvius' eruption in the year 79, they arrive in the 30th century BCE, the time ofNoah. There they discover the secret of eternal life is God. Finally, don Sindulfo in his madness speeds up the anacronópete, which explodes upon arriving at the Day of Creation.
Don Sindulfo wakes up. He has slept while watching a theatre play byJules Verne, with the just-married Luis and Clara.[2]
It was written during Gaspar's mission to China[3] (1878–1885). The novel fits with the spirit of the age, in which the works of Jules Verne were very successful. It was undoubtedly influenced by his personal friend[3]Camille Flammarion and Flammarion's storyLumen, in which spiritual time travel is featured.El Anacronópete, written in 1881, also predatesMouton'sL'historioscope, and therefore could not have been influenced by that work.
The original edition byDaniel Cortezo was illustrated byFrancesc Soler. It has been republished in 1999 in diskette byAsociación Española de Fantasía, Ciencia-Ficción y Terror, in 2000 byCírculo de Lectores. Minotauro republished the Círculo edition with the original illustrations in 2005 (ISBN 84-450-7565-9). Yolanda Molina-Gavilán and Andrea Bell translated it into English asThe Time Ship for the Wesleyan University in 2012.[4][5] An online English translation was released in 2014[6] with the original illustrations.
