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Time Travel As a Motif of Science Fiction Literature

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Time Travel As a Motif of Science Fiction Literature Universität Leipzig Institut für Anglistik Prof. Dr. habil. Schenkel HS: Machines in Art and Literature SS 2000 Time Travel as a Motif of Science Fiction Literature Maria David Ma Französistik, Anglistik, BWL 6. Fachsemester 2 Table of Contents 1 The Fascination of Time Travel 3 2 Science Fiction 4 2. 1 Definition 4 2. 2 Motifs of Science Fiction Literature 6 3 Time Travel as a Motif of Science Fiction Literature 7 3. 1 General Remarks 7 3. 2 Motives for writing about Time Travel 8 3. 3 The Means of Travelling in Time 10 3. 4 Theories about Time 13 4 Conclusion 16 Bibliography 17 3 1 The Fascination of Time Travel Everyone of us can travel in time. When we visit exhibitions, we can feel as if we have been put back in former times.When we travel to different places and enter different time zones, we travel backward or forward a few hours. The countries that we visit are not only different in their culture, but also in their state of development. We might feel as if we have travelled into the past or into the future. Paul Alkon gives a suitable example of this phenomenon: “Americans ... were and are more likely than Europeans to equate geography with time, and thus spatial with temporal travel, because in the New World, especially during America’s expansionist nineteenth century, the western frontier stands for the future whereas eastern states and Europe (‘the old country’) stand for the past. To travel west is to go toward a cultural future. To travel east is to go toward the cultural past. The further east one goes, the more one encounters old buildings and monuments and the greater their antiquity. Americans crossing the Atlantic eastward to Europe ... are also in effect visiting their collective past.”1 But these possibilities lack two important features of time travel. We cannot move freely in time and we cannot influence the past or the future. Mentally, we can travel to every point of time that we would like to. People often concentrate more on the past or future than on the present. Especially older people think of “the good old days” whereas younger people set their hopes on the future. We often ask ourselves: “What would have happened if...?” “What would have happened if I had not...?” “What would happened if I was to ...?” Is the present not exciting enough? We often speculate how our present lives would have been different, if we had made different decisions in the past. We try to imagine our future because we cannot cope with the incertainty of not knowing. 1 Alkon, P. 1994: 120 4 2 Science Fiction 2. 1 Definition “Modern science fiction is the only form of literature that consistently considers the nature of the changes that face us, the possible consequences, and the possible solutions. That branch of literature which is concerned with the impact of scientific advance upon human beings.”2 Science fiction anticipates our future from our present knowledge and the cultural, social and scientific trends of our time. It shows us where current events may lead us. Imaginary inventions or discoveries in natural sciences are the basis of science fiction stories. Science fiction tries to “foresee how mankind may adjust to the new condition”3 that is caused by new discoveries. That means, it often does not describe the story of a single person, but of a whole civilization. Science fiction authors invent whole civilizations with their own specific language, behavior, legislation and jurisdiction; whole worlds. They use the atmosphere of scientific credibility for speculations in physical and social science, philosophy, space and time.4 Science fiction literature became established in the 19th century. The rapid explosion of knowledge and scientific progress and the growing interest in natural science led to the development of a new branch of literature that was based on elements of scientific progress.5 “The history of science fiction is also the history of humanity’s changing attitudes toward space and time. It is the history of our growing understanding of the universe and the position of our species in that universe.”6 New discoveries widened man’s view of the world and let him imagine the formerly unbelievable, that now seemed to be within reach. In science fiction dreams are often described, that later became realities of scientific progress. Jules Verne described in his novel “De la terre à la lune” (1865) (From the Earth to the Moon) an expedition to the 2 Asimov, I. In: http://www.panix.com/~gokce/sf_defn.html 3 Bailey, J.O. In: http://www.panix.com/~gokce/sf_defn.html 4 Moskowitz, S. In: http://www.panix.com/~gokce/sf_defn.html 5 Bär, T. 2000: 36 6 Scholes, R. / Rabkin, E.S. 1977: 3 5 moon, an undertaking that seemed impossible to his contemporaries and yet became reality in 1969. In his novel “Time and Again”, Jack Finney very amusingly combines former visions with today’s realities. He describes how Julia, a woman who has travelled from the year 1882 to the 1970s, is not surprised to see airplanes because she has read about them previously in books by Jules Verne. “...science fiction could begin to exist as a literary form only when a different future became conceivable by human beings – specificially a future in which new knowledge, new discoveries, new adventures, new mutations, would make life radically different from the familiar patterns of the past and present. ...the division between realism and fantasy begins to fade...”7 Science fiction authors often pretend to use scientific knowledge as the basis of their story. Sometimes, like in “The Time Machine” by H. G. Wells, the scientific premises turn out to be wrong. Nevertheless, these stories do not depend wholly on the truth of their scientific foundations, but on the skill of the author to make them seem believable. Science fiction also reveals the attitude of society towards scientific discoveries. Jules Verne, the first author who wrote mainly science fiction, believed strongly in scientific progress and in the solution of social problems by technical means. Other authors were more sceptical concerning new discoveries. An example of this scepticism is shown in H. G. Wells’ novel “The Island of Dr. Moreau” (1896) which is about the irresponsible biologist Dr. Moreau and his creatures. Wells describes in this book the dangers of the manipulation of the genetic code without having the biological knowledge. “SF is a controlled way to think and dream about the future. An integration of the mood and attitude of science (the objective universe) with the fears and hopes that spring from the unconscious.”8 7 Scholes, R. / Rabkin, E.S. 1977: 7 8 Benford, G. In: http://www.panix.com/~gokce/sf_defn.html 6 2. 2 Motifs of Science Fiction Literature The themes of science fiction can be divided in two groups: those of biological origin (including stories of nonhuman beings and problems of race and sex) and those of physical origin (dealing with problems of space and time).9 “A persistent aspect of the vision of science fiction is the desire to transcend normal experience.”10 This transcendence can refer to all of the motives mentioned above. A very popular topic of science fiction is nonhuman beings. These fictional characters can be of two forms: either they are artificial creations, like robots, androids, golems or they are extraterrestrial beings: aliens. The protagonists of science fiction stories travel to other planets and – they travel in time. All these possibilities do not seem entirely impossible to us, but it will take a very long time until they become reality. There are so many planets in the universe, is it not possible that some of them could be inhabited? In 1969 Neil Armstrong landed on the moon, and the slowing down and acceleration of time when space flight nearly reaches the speed of light is the first form of time travel. Machines play an important role in science fiction literature. We can look at machines from two sides: first, the usefulness. As long as they are under human supervision, they can make life easier and more comfortable. But machines develop and become more and more independent from human control. This loss of control makes many people afraid of being hurt by machines. Mary Shelley wrote the novel “Frankenstein” about an artificial creature that gained control over its creator. In “Der Golem des Rabbi Elijahu von Chelm” by Jakob Emden, the golem, who was created to be a servant, hurts its creator to protect itself. Science fiction literature portrays the changing attitude of mankind towards machines. At the beginning, writers took a positive view of machines as servants to humanity. After World War I, when science and technology had shown their negative sides, disillusionment also became apparent in literature. A question that often concerns people is whether machines will replace them and make them superfluous. Since the Industrial Revolution human labour was replaced more and more by machines and this 9 Scholes, R. / Rabkin, E.S. 1977: 175 10 Scholes, R. / Rabkin, E.S. 1977: 175 7 development goes on and on.11 Karel Câpek, the inventor of the word “robot” described in his play “R.U.R.” how the robots, who were designed to make man’s life easier, gradually develop their own ideas and aim to become masters of the humans. In the end they revolt against their former masters and take control. 3 Time Travel as a Motif of Science Fiction Literature 3. 1 General Remarks Science fiction suggests that it could be possible to travel in time, analogously to travelling in space.
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