Time Travel

Entry updated 7 October 2024. Tagged: Theme.

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It is a great literary convenience to be able to move a narrative viewpoint backwards or forwards inTime, and writers have always been prepared to use whatever narrative devices come to hand for this purpose. Until the end of the nineteenth century, dreams were the favoured method – perhaps most significantly deployed in CharlesDickens'sA Christmas Carol (1843) and Edgar AllanPoe's "A Tale of the Ragged Mountains" (April 1844Godey's Lady's Book). One of the earliest time-travel fictions, the playAnno 7603 ["The Year 7603"] (1785) by Johan Hermann Wessel (1742-1785) (seeDenmark;Norway) invokes fairyMagic to effect the transition to 7603 CE. Entirely arbitraryTimeslips were also used, while characters could be brought from the past into our own time via variousSuspended-Animation devices, includingCryonic preservation, extended sleep andDrugs, as in GrantAllen's "Pausodyne" (December 1881Belgravia Christmas Annual).

H GWells'sThe Time Machine (1895) may have been a crucial breakthrough in narrative technology, providing sf with one of its most significant facilitating devices, ultimately used in this instance to survey the kind ofFar Future andEnd of the World prophesied (erroneously) by contemporary scientific knowledge. But the idea of employing a hypotheticalTime Machine as a literary device, using a jargon of apology to add plausibility, was not entirely new – having been preceded by EnriqueGaspar's "El anachronópete" (inNovelas, coll1887; trans asThe Time Ship: A Chrononautical Journey2012) – but this particular deployment of it was so striking as to constitute a historical break and a great inspiration. Oddly enough, Wells never again used such a device, leaving its further exploitation to others. The earliest writers to take up the challenge included AlfredJarry in his classic essay in 'pataphysics, "Commentair pour servir à la construction pratique de la machine à explorer le temps" (February 1899Mercure de France; trans Roger Shattuck inSelected Works of Alfred Jarry coll1965 as "How to Construct a Time Machine"); the anonymous "A Disciple" (of Wells), who borrowed the machine in order to exploreThe Coming Era, or Leeds Beatified (1900); and H SMackaye, whose eponymous time machine inThe Panchronicon (1904) is unashamedly ludicrous. Most UK writers ofScientific Romance, however, continued to prefer visionary fantasy as a method of time-exploration – E VOdle'sThe Clockwork Man (1923) is one honourable exception – and it was left to the US pulp writers to show what really might be done with time machines if one had the imaginative daring to employ them. Even the pulp writers remained relatively modest in their time-jaunting until the 1920s, although William WallaceCook'sA Round Trip to the Year 2000 (July-November 1903Argosy;1925) deals sarcastically with the accumulation of time-travellers to be expected in the magical millennial year.

Mainstream Writers who found literary dreams becoming increasingly unfashionable had more and more recourse to arbitraryTimeslips, and there is a curious subgenre of "timeslip romances" whose affective power is very often concentrated into love stories, although the real emotional substrate is nostalgia. "Arria Marcella" (1852) by ThéophileGautier, although its timeslip is "rationalized" as a visionary fantasy, provides an archetypal example of the peculiarly heated eroticism with which such stories are sometimes endowed. Henry James (1843-1916) spent the last few years of his life working onThe Sense of the Past (1917), but left it incomplete; it inspired the playBerkeley Square (1929) by John LBalderston and J CSquire which was memorably filmed in 1933. Other notable timeslip romances includeStill She Wished for Company (1924) by Margaret Irwin (1889-1967),The Man in Steel (1939) by J StorerClouston,Portrait of Jennie (1940) by RobertNathan,Time Marches Sideways (1950) by Ralph LFinn,Time and Again (1970) by JackFinney,Bid Time Return (1975) by RichardMatheson,The Dream Years (1986) by LisaGoldstein andSerenissima (1987) by EricaJong. "Psychological timeslips", by means of which protagonists are permitted to relive their lives with the aid of a mature and knowledgeable consciousness, are featured inThe Devil in Crystal (1944) by LouisMarlow,Strange Life of Ivan Osokin (1947) by P D Ouspensky (1878-1947),Replay (1987) by KenGrimwood andChanging the Past (1989) by ThomasBerger. Significant timeslip "anti-romances" includeA Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court (1889) by MarkTwain andFriar's Lantern (1906) by G GCoulton, the latter being written to dispel the nostalgic illusions about the Medieval Church harboured by G KChesterton and HilaireBelloc. Within pulp sf, writers were quick to grasp the nettle, using time machines to explore both past and future, often venturing speculations about the nature of time. Even a mediocre pulp writer like RayCummings could get entranced by such mysteries, although such romances asThe Man Who Mastered Time (12 June 1924Argosy;1929) – which obligingly defines time as "what keeps everything from happening at once" – andThe Shadow Girl (22 June-13 July 1929Argosy;1947) cannot take such philosophizing very far. Ralph MilneFarley, whose time stories – begun with "The Time-Traveler" (August 1931Weird Tales) – were collected inThe Omnibus of Time (1950), did a little better, and JohnTaine (a professional mathematician) set new standards of sophistication inThe Time Stream (December 1931-March 1932Wonder Stories;1946). Theories about the nature of time, especially those put forward by J WDunne, also influenced non-genre writers – the most conspicuous example being J BPriestley, in his variousTime plays – but the mainstream fictions inspired by that interest were understandably more modest.

Certain periods of the past have always attracted time-travellers because of their melodramatic potential. The Age of theDinosaurs was inevitably the biggest draw – even to people who could only stand and stare, like the users of theTime Viewer in Taine'sBefore the Dawn (1934); it was later to become a favourite era for hunters, as in RayBradbury's "A Sound of Thunder" (28 June 1952Collier's) and L Spraguede Camp's "A Gun for Dinosaur" (March 1956Galaxy). Meeting famous people has also been a favourite theme, and Manly WadeWellman was the first writer to allow a timeslipping hero tobecome somebody famous, inTwice in Time (May 1940Startling;1957). Some of the more scrupulous pulp writers thought that time travel into the past really belonged to the realms of fantasy because of theTime Paradoxes thus generated, and the first classicTimeslip romance from a genre writer,de Camp'sLest Darkness Fall (December 1939Unknown; exp1941; rev1949), was initially published inUnknown Worlds for this reason. Others had fewer scruples, and many writers gleefully set about exploiting the peculiar aesthetics of time paradoxes. In fact, despite the dubious propriety of its literary device, de Camp's novel – like Wells'sThe Time Machine – warrants serious consideration as sf because of the conscientious way in which it employs its displaced viewpoint, the protagonist here being used to explore the crucial but subtle role played inHistory byTechnology.

Inevitably, the main focus of pulp sf interest was in the melodramatic potential of time travel, as first displayed by Cummings and then taken to exotic extremes by such writers as John RussellFearn, inLiners of Time (May-August 1935Amazing;1947), and JackWilliamson, in his pioneering story ofChangewar betweenAlternate Histories,The Legion of Time (May-July 1938Astounding; rev1952). Timeslipping was similarly taken to extremes in MurrayLeinster's "Sidewise in Time" (June 1934Astounding), in which whole regions of the Earth's surface slip into anachronistic conjunction – an idea later redeployed by FredHoyle inOctober the First Is Too Late (1966). Individuals and objects timeslipped from the future cause havoc in the present in a number of famous sf stories, including "The Twonky" (September 1942Astounding) and "Mimsy Were the Borogoves" (February 1943Astounding) by Lewis Padgett (HenryKuttner and C LMoore), "Child's Play" (March 1947Astounding) by WilliamTenn and "The Little Black Bag" (July 1950Astounding) by C MKornbluth. These stories appeared during the period when the elementary plot-possibilities ofTime Paradoxes were also being comprehensively explored. The cavalier use made of time travel by the early genre writers did beg certain important questions; the language problem which would be faced by time-travellers was overlooked until De Camp pointed it out in "The Isolinguals" (September 1937Astounding) and his essay "Language for Time-Travelers" (July 1938Astounding), and was frequently ignored thereafter, although this too became a plot-gimmick in the 1940s, in such stories as "Barrier" (September 1942Astounding as "The Barrier") by AnthonyBoucher. Other sharp idea-twisting stories of the period include C LMoore's "Vintage Season" (September 1946Astounding) as by Lawrence O'Donnell, in which future time-tourists are drawn to ourNear Future for reasons which ultimately become clear, and T LSherred's "E for Effort" (May 1947Astounding), which sets out with compelling logic the reasons why the invention of aTime Viewer would bring about theEnd of the World.

The capacity of time travel to generate fresh plot-twists capable of sustaining stories on their own inevitably declined in the 1950s, by when all kinds of time travel had been routinized into part of the standard vocabulary of sf ideas; this was the heyday of theTime Police story, in which vast manifolds ofAlternate Histories were routinely patrolled by cunning secret agents or historical conservationists. The 1960s, however, brought a new sophistication to treatments of now-classic themes and a new thoughtfulness to metaphysically inclined stories, particularly but by no means exclusively in connection with the UKNew Wave. J GBallard's fascination with time is reflected in many of his early stories, including "The Voices of Time" (October 1960New Worlds), "Chronopolis" (June 1960New Worlds), "The Garden of Time" (February 1962F&SF) andThe Crystal World (1966). The timeslip story was remarkably refined by Brian WAldiss in "Man in his Time" (April 1965Science Fantasy), which features a very slight but distressing slippage, and Aldiss also wrote the best of severalTime in Reverse stories,An Age (1967; vtCryptozoic! US and later UK editions); others are Philip KDick'sCounter-Clock World (1967) and MartinAmis'sTime's Arrow (1991). A psychological timeslip story underpinned by split-brain research, then very fashionable, is ColinWilson's "Timeslip" (inAries 1, anth1979, ed JohnGrant). The linguistic problems of time-travellers were thrown into sharper focus by David IMasson's "A Two-Timer" (February 1966New Worlds). The Age of the Dinosaurs gave way to the Crucifixion as a key focus of interest, as in MichaelMoorcock'sBehold the Man (September 1966New Worlds; exp1969) and BrianEarnshaw'sPlanet in the Eye of Time (1968). Theodore LThomas's "The Doctor" (inOrbit 2, anth1967, ed DamonKnight) cynically re-examines the potential available to the time-traveller to operate as an apostle of progress. This kind of narrative sophistication of idea-twists extended into the 1970s in such stories as RobertSilverberg's "What We Learned from this Morning's Newspaper" (inInfinity 4, anth1972, ed RobertHoskins), JamesTiptree Jr's "The Man Who Walked Home" (May 1972Amazing), GarryKilworth's "Let's Go to Golgotha!" (15 December 1974Sunday Times Weekly Review) and IanWatson's "The Very Slow Time Machine" (inAnticipations, anth1978, ed ChristopherPriest).

The metaphysics of time continues to intrigue writers inside and outside the genre; notable late-twentieth-century works deploying ideas of this kind includeLe Temps Uncertain (1973; trans asChronolysis1980) by MichelJeury andWhen Time Winds Blow (1982) by Robert PHoldstock. The oppressions of determinism are bewailed in KurtVonnegut Jr'sSlaughterhouse-Five (1979). Action-adventure stories involving time travel have, inevitably, continued to reach new extremes of narrative extravagance, but at the same time have shown an increasing willingness to become involved with the intimate details of real history, and hence with its presumed dynamics. Such works as David JLake'sThe Man Who Loved Morlocks (1981), ConnieWillis's "Fire Watch" (February 1982Asimov's) andDoomsday Book (1992), MichaelBishop'sNo Enemy But Time (1982; rev2022), DavidDvorkin'sTime for Sherlock Holmes (1983), TimPowers'sThe Anubis Gates (1983), HowardWaldrop'sThem Bones (1984), Jack LChalker'sDowntiming the Nightside (1985) and VernorVinge'sMarooned in Realtime (1986) combine playfulness and seriousness in an artful fashion which is squarely in the tradition ofThe Time Machine. Even such frank melodramas asDoctor Who (1963-current) and JulianMay's series begun withThe Many-Colored Land (1981), and such knockabout comedies as RonGoulart'sThe Panchronicon Plot (1977) and SimonHawke'sTimewars series, begun withThe Ivanhoe Gambit (1984), have implications which are not simply left to languish as throwaway ideas. StephenBaxter'sThe Time Ships (1995), aSequel by Another Hand to Wells's originalThe Time Machine, expands its scenario with later sophistications such as multiple mutable futures and the titular ships' climactic excursion to the beginning of time in order to establish anAlternate Cosmos.

Cinema treatments of time travel are very numerous; relevant films with their own entries in this encyclopedia includeTerror from the Year 5000 (1958; vtCage of Doom),TheTime Machine (1960) and its 2002 remake,LaJetée (1963; vtThe Jetty; vtThe Pier),Je t'aime, je t'aime (1968),I Killed Einstein, Gentlemen (1970; original titleZabil jsem Einsteina, panove),Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971),Zítra Vstanu a Opařím Se Čajem (1977; vtTomorrow I'll Wake up and Scald Myself with Tea),Toki o Kakeru Shōjo ["The Girl Who Leapt Through Time"] (1983 Japan; vtLittle Girl Who Conquered Time; vtThe Girl Who Cut Time; vtThe Girl of Time),Timerider: The Adventures of Lyle Swann (1983),TheTerminator (1984) and its sequels,Trancers (1984; vtFuture Cop),Back to the Future (1985) and its sequels,Millennium (1989),Frankenstein Unbound (1990; vtRoger Corman's Frankenstein Unbound),Twelve Monkeys (1995) – inspired byLa Jetée above –Timeline (2003),TheButterfly Effect (2004),Primer (2004),Déjà Vu (2006),Bubble E Go! Time Machine Wa Drum-Shiki ["To the Bubble! The Time Machine Is a Washing Machine"] (2007 Japan; vtBubble Fiction: Boom or Bust),Looper (2012),About Time (2013),Synchronic (2019),Tenet (2020) andTheAdam Project (2022).

Examples ofTelevision series with an overall time-travel theme which have entries in this encyclopedia areCaptain Z-Ro (1955-1956),Doctor Who (1963-current) as already cited – the most durable of them all –It's About Time (1966-1967),TheTime Tunnel (1966-1967),Voyagers (1982-1983),Quantum Leap (1989-1993),Time Trax (1993-1994),Seven Days (1998-2001; vt7 Days) andTerminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008-2009).

New approaches continue to emerge even in the twenty-first century, such as StephenBaxter'sExultant (2004) with its ingeniousComputer whose time-travelling components allow effectively instantaneous solution of arbitrarily complex problems, and TedChiang's calm meditation on destiny and inevitability inThe Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate (2007 chap). However paradoxical it may be, time travel will remain a central element in the sf tradition, and theTime Machine – whether modelled on the bicycle, the cummerbund or the police telephone box – will doubtless retain its status as the ultimate literary-device-made-machine. AnnVanderMeer and JeffVanderMeer'sThe Time Traveller's Almanac (anth2013) is an immense retrospective anthology of roughly 950 pages covering the theme fromThe Time Machine onward. [MJE/BS/DRL]

further reading

BudFoote.The Connecticut Yankee in the Twentieth Century: Travel to the Past in Science Fiction (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press,1990) [nonfiction: hb/nonpictorial]
Paul J Nahin.Time Machines: Time Travel in Physics, Metaphysics, and Science Fiction (New York: Springer Verlag/American Institute of Physics,1993) [nonfiction: hb/]
GeorgeSlusser, David Leiby and GaryWestfahl, editors.Worlds Enough and Time: Explorations of Time in Science Fiction and Fantasy (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press,2002) [nonfiction: anth:Eaton Conference Papers: hb/nonpictorial]
Barry NMalzberg, editor.The Best Time Travel Stories of all Time (New York: ibooks,2003) [anth: pb/Ralf Heimisch]
AnnVanderMeer and JeffVanderMeer, editors.The Time Traveller's Almanac (London: Head of Zeus,2013) [anth: hb/]
J Richard Gott.Time Travel in Einstein's Universe (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company,2001) [nonfiction: hb/]
Barry NMalzberg, editor.The Best Time Travel Stories of all Time (New York: ibooks,2003) [anth: pb/Ralf Heimisch]
AnnVanderMeer and JeffVanderMeer, editors.The Time Traveller's Almanac (London: Head of Zeus,2013) [anth: hb/]
James Gleick.Time Travel: A History (New York: Pantheon,2016) [nonfiction: hb/]
DamienBroderick.The Time Machine Hypothesis: Extreme Science Meets Science Fiction (Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing,2019) [nonfiction: pb/]
Michael A Ventrella, editor.Three Time Travelers Walk Into ... (New York: Fantastic Books,2022) [anth: pb/Lynne Hansen]