History of Time Travel Narratives

## History of the Time Travel Narrative

        From the Mahabharata to Doctor Who, the history of the time travel narrative is one of great length and complexity. The idea of being able to see and experience a time different than our own is one humanity has toyed with for thousands of years. Despite this, it was many years until the first full-length books containing time travel narratives were published, and many more until they evolved into what time travel is known to be today. Since then, time travel has become a huge science fiction genre used by innumerable tv shows, movies, and literature in the modern era (see Time Travel in Digital Media).

Ancient examples of time travel stories

        The idea of time travel is not a new one by any stretch of the imagination. The first myths including characters who can travel through time appeared thousands of years ago in ancient Japanese, Hindu, and Jewish cultures.1 These myths were frequently used to threaten followers of their religion with an apocalyptic world if they strayed from a heavenly lifestyle.2

One of the most notable examples can be found in the ancient Indian epic poem, Mahabharata, in which the King Raivata Kakudmi goes on a quest to meet the god Brahma, and eventually ends up many ages into the future.4

## Long 19th Century (1789-1914)

        The first full length fiction novel that included time travel is considered to be Memoirs of the Twentieth Century by Samuel Madden written in 1733 which is about an angel that travels to 1728 with letters from 1997 and ‘98. 3

In 1843, a more famously known novel, A Christmas Carol was written by Charles Dickens. The main character is shown the past, present, and future by ghosts in order to change his cynical attitude.

It is argued that the first modern time travel fiction was The Time Machine by H. G. Wells written in 1895. In this novel, the defining feature that separates it from earlier time travel fictions is the idea of a legitimate machine that can be built and explained through science rather than a supernatural explanation for the time skip. Also, the other defining feature that makes it more modern is that the story is more focused on the means and method of travel rather than the destination. In other words, the journey was more important than the destination.

The next more famous time travel fiction is Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy written in 1887. His story details a man in the 19th century falling into a hypnotic sleep and then wakes up over 100 years later in 2000 in Boston, Massachusetts. The main character details a socialistic like society, his form of a utopia.

A major theme in long 19th century time travel fiction is utopias. Utopia is derived from Greek that means “a place that is not a place”.  Many books describe the “perfect world” and discuss the author’s thoughts of how the world is going to change for the better. Another idea that became popular in this time was the degeneration theory. Many authors hypothesized that humans would become less and less evolved as time went on, playing off the people of this time’s fears of the effeminate and weak.

One of the transitions that happened during the long 19th century was from utopia to dystopia.7 For example, The Time Machine details a future in which a degenerative process has occurred and the new species that evolved from humans have lost the ability to write and to speak and form complex thoughts and are also hunted by a another species.

## The Short 20th Century

        In the 20th century, a major change in the traditional time travel narrative occurred. A shift occurred from being more scientific and mathematically driven to being more fantastical and more about the psychological and emotional aspects of the characters. In the 19th century, there was huge emphasis on the method of time travel, however once the 20th century started, it became more about the time period that the protagonist ended up in.

For an example of this, compare The Time Machine by H.G. Wells to Daphne du Maurier’s The House on the Strand. The Time Machine focuses very much on the machine by which the Time Traveler ends up in the time he does, whereas The House on the Strand is much more concerned with what the protagonist experiences in the past.

Another new trend in the 20th century was the shift in narratives from metaphors and analogies to more entertainment purposes. Before this time, the future was used as a metaphor for the pitfalls of human beings and how mankind was taking a sharp turn for the worst. However, in this era across genres, authors began to tell a story simply for the purpose of entertainment.

## Contemporary (1989-present)

        Time travel is commonly used in present works and not something new or crazily improbable. A famous franchise, Harry Potter, used time travel in the third movie, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), in which one of the characters uses a time turner in order to save a mythical animal from execution.

        Another famous example is the TV series Doctor Who. It was created in 1963 and was eventually discontinued. It was revived in 2005 and since then has acquired a very large fanbase. It depicts a time traveling alien, the Doctor,  in his TARDIS, Time and Relative Dimension in Space, and usually brings along humans as companions. Every several years, the Doctor regenerates and a new actor portrays the character.

        An example of time travel romance fiction is The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger written in 2003. The plot is about a man who has a genetic disorder in which he unpredictably travels in time and his wife who has to cope with her husband’s frequent absences. This novel contemplates linear time travel because in 1991, it is the husband’s first meeting of his future wife, but to the wife she has known him her entire life.

        Meet the Robinsons is an example of time travel comedy. It became a movie created by Disney based loosely on the book A Day with Wilbur Robinson by William Joyce. The main character invents a time machine and travels to 2037 where he encounters the thief of his time travel machine. 6

        Another example is the TV series Outlander created in 2014 which details a married nurse from 1945 that is transported to Scotland in 1743. It’s based off of the novels of the same name written by Diana Gabaldon. Its tagline is “What if your future was the past?”, which also contemplates the idea of whether time travel is linear or not, the growing common theme.

## Historical Context

        Historical context means that when an author creates a time travel fiction, they involuntarily or voluntarily write it while incorporating their present time customs. In Star Trek, a franchise set in the 23rd century and was created in 1969. Their hair, the cut of their clothes, their idioms, and everything was analog. They had no concept of handheld digital technology, or other technology of that ilk that is commonplace now. These examples really show how the author’s time period is incorporated into the story.

## **Evolution of the Human Race**

The theory of evolution was formulated by Charles Darwin in the 19th century, and even though it most commonly refers to the evolution of the human species in the past, it is often used in time travel narratives when describing the decline or ascension of humankind in the future, as observed by a character who has traveled through time. An example of using this method in writing would be The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, where the character, the Time Traveller, travels into the future and observes two separate species, which he concludes have evolved from the human species. The Time Traveller is astounded by the fact that the two species have declined in intelligence, unlike he had imagined. The Time Traveller was able to realize and understand how the species had evolved, and Wells makes sure that it makes sense to the readers. However, in other works of time travel fiction, the future human race is seen as superior and much more intelligent and advanced  than the modern human race. The way that the evolution of humans in the future is portrayed in different ways by various authors, and is not restricted to a large decline or ascension.

## Works Cited

1 "Time Travel." Wikipedia. Accessed June 12, 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time\_travel.

2 Segal, Robert. "How and Why Do Myths Arise?" OUPblog. August 30, 2012. Accessed June 12, 2015. http://blog.oup.com/2012/08/how-and-why-do-myths-arise/.

3 Wikipedia. Accessed June 12, 2015. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_time\_travel\_science\_fiction.

4 "Mahabharata." Wikipedia. Accessed June 12, 2015. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahabharata.

6"Meet the Robinsons." Wikipedia. Accessed June 12, 2015. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meet\_the\_Robinsons.

7 "Utopia." Wikipedia. Accessed June 12, 2015. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia.

Morgan, Stephen. "Scientists Show Future Events Decide What Happens in the past." Digital Journal. June 3, 2015. Accessed June 12, 2015. http://www.digitaljournal.com/science/experiment-shows-future-events-decide-what-happens-in-the-past/article/434829.

"History of Time Travel Timeline." History of Time Travel Timeline. Accessed June 12, 2015. http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ciencia/time\_travel/esp\_ciencia\_timetravel07.htm.

Wikipedia. Accessed June 12, 2015.

"History of Time Travel Timeline." History of Time Travel Timeline. Accessed June 12, 2015. http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ciencia/time\_travel/esp\_ciencia\_timetravel07.htm.