Time Travel and Narcissism

[ken_schneyer]

I am inordinately fond of time travel stories. I've published a few of my own, (see, e.g., ( "Liza's Home", "Conflagration" and "The Never Fair"), and long argued that their juxtaposition and confusion of memory and expectation allow for a kind of emotional resonance you can't achieve anywhere else. Tell me a book is about time travel, and I'll

Comments

[davidkudler]

Okay. As always, very interesting. And more than I can wrap my brain around just now, because we've had an evening of high-school and college application crises and I'm no longer firing on all synapses.

However... Hmm. It could be argued that most narratives are voyages of self-exploration and/or self-realization. So time travel shouldn't be any different.

I won't even go into the conversation we've had about the narrative demands of time travel on the one hand and prophecies on the other. Waaaaaaaay too tired for that.

Just out of curiosity: did you read Audrey Niffeneger's The Time Traveler's Wife? I'd love to know what you thought of it.

[ken_schneyer]

Thanks!

I think your comparison of time travel to prophecy is directly related to your question about The Time Traveler's Wife. I adored TTW, since you ask.

In TTW, like its parent Slaughterhouse Five (and its grandparent, F. M. Busby's "If This Is Winnetkta, You Must Be Judy") the time traveler has no desire to travel and no control over the traveling. Thus s/he is generally unable to take action to affect changes at all (although Busby's protagonist does manage it eventually). The protagonist in TTW or Sh5 is thus more like the recipient of prophesy who knows the outcome and must suffer with the knowledge, like Cassandra who was condemned to watch her worst predictions come true. The poignancy in that case comes from remembering what is to come and anticipating its pain, rather than taking action to eliminate or alleviate the pain.

High school & college application crises?

[madderbrad]

... and long argued that their juxtaposition and confusion of memory and expectation allow for a kind of emotional resonance you can't achieve anywhere else.

What an excellent one-line summation of the draw of time travel!

I see exactly what you mean (although I'd never thought about it before). Take away the agonising over the actual target of the time travel and then you can concentrate on the chronological change itself. Or at least have a more personal close-up view.

One day I'm going to track down the LJ comment you once made to me about my 'having' to read Replay. I did, on your recommendation - twice. Brilliant book, loved it. Until I've said 'thank you' there this will hopefully suffice. Thank you for the recommendation Professor SF!

[ken_schneyer]

Thanks, Brad!

Er, Replay? I think I recommended The Man Who Folded Himself...

[madderbrad]

Darn, you're right! Hmmm. So where did I get 'Replay' from? Anyway, it's a great book, I'll recommend it to you then! :-) By Ken Grimwood.

I purchased 'The Man Who Folded Himself' on your recommendation but it's still sitting in my 'to read' pile. If only I had a time machine so I could have the time to read it! Or would that be the 'time compression' spell that I've seen exploited a lot in some HP fanfics, rather? :-)