El Anacronópete

Literal: He who flies backwards in time English release: The Time Ship: A Chrononautical Journey

by Enrique Gaspar

Release: 1887
Format: Novel
Genres: Science Fiction, Comedy
Audience: Adults
Content: Debatable Time Travel
Original Language: Spanish

Mad scientist Don Sindulfo and his best friend Benjamin take off in Sindulfo’s flying time machine along with Sindulfo’s niece, her maid, a troop of Spanish soldiers, and a bordelloful of French strumpets for madcap adventures at the 1860 Battle of Téouan, Queen Isabella’s Spain, nondescript locales in the eleventh and seventh centuries, 3rd-century China, the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, and a biblical time shortly after the flood.

After taking a year of Spanish at the University of Colorado, I undertook a three-year project of translating Gaspar’s novel to English, which is available in a pdf file for your reading pleasure. Even with the unpleasant twist at the end, it was still a fine, farcical romp through history.

— Michael Main

—Poco á poco—argumentaba un sensato.—Si el Anacronópete conduce á deshacer lo hecho, á mi me pasrece que debemos felicitarnos porque eso no permite reparar nuestras faltas.

—Tiene usted razón—clamaba empotrado en un testero del coche un marido cansado de su mujer.—En cuanto se abra la línea al público, tomo yo un billete para la vispera de mi boda.

“One step at a time,” argued a sensible voice. “If el Anacronópete aims to undo history, it seems to me that we must be congratulated as it allows us to amend our failures.”

“Quite right,” called a married man jammed into the front of the bus, thinking of his tiresome wife. “As soon as the ticket office opens to the public, I’m booking passage to the eve of my wedding.”

English

DEBUT

[ex=bare]El Anacronópete | He who flies backwards in time[/ex], in Novelas [Stories] (Daniel Cortezo, 1887).

VARIANTS

1 Spanish variant

TRANSLATIONS

Translations to English

TAGS(SPOILERS!)

Time Periods

Ancient History (3000 BC to AD 476: Bronze/Iron Ages): China (ca. AD 220), the Mt. Vesuvius Eruption (AD 79), the Genesis Flood (BC 3308).
Middle Ages (AD 476 to 1454): The Byzantine Empire (AD 690).
Early Modern History (AD 1454 to 1600): Granada (1492).
Circa AD 1800 to 1899: The Paris Exposition Universelle (1878), the Battle of Tétuoan (1860).

Timeline Models

Unexplained Timeline Model

Time Travel Methods

Time Ships

Themes

Ex Nihilo History: Among other things, the travelers cause [tag-3254 | Isabella] to give an audience to [tag-3134 | Columbus].
Just a Dream, Hallucination, et al.
Travel to the Past Unintentially Makes You Younger: Without a series of electrical shocks, the travelers grows younger and younger until they dwindle away.
Unusual Aging

Real-World Tags

Fictional Tags

Groupings

Cited in Paradoxes of Time Travel by Rayn Wasserrman ()

TIME TRAVEL ITINERARY (SPOILERS!)

From Le Trocadéro, Paris, 10 July 1878 ⋙ to near Tétouan, Morocco, 4 February 1860. Note: Chapter IX, see the Battle of Tétouan.
From near Tétouan, Morocco, 4 February 1860 ⋙ to Versailles, 9 July 1878. Note: Chapter X.
From Versailles, 9 July 1878 ⋙ to Sante Fe, Granada, Spain, 2 January 1492. Note: Chapter XII, see the Siege of Granada.
From Sante Fe, Granada, Spain, 2 January 1492 ⋙ to unspecified location, circa AD 1100. Note: Chapter XII, “nothing of note”.
From unspecified place, circa AD 1100 ⋙ to Ravenna, seat of the exarchs in Italy, AD 696. Note: Chapter XII, see the Byzantine Empire.
From Ravenna, Italy, AD 696 ⋙ to Ho-nan, China, AD 220. Note: Chapter XII, in the reign of Huen-ti.
From Ho-nan, China, AD 220 ⋙ to Pompeii, 7 September AD 79. Note: Chapter XVII, see Mt. Vesuvius.
From Pompeii, 8 September AD 79 ⋙ to The Biblical Flood, 3308 BC. Note: Chapter XX, see the Genesis Flood Narrative.
From The Biblical Flood, 3308 BC ⋙ to Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin, Paris, circa 1878. Note: Chapter XX.