Man of Ages
- by K. F. Ziska
- Short Story
- Science Fiction
- Adults
- Time Phenomena
- English
- “Man of Ages” by K. F. Ziska , Astounding Stories, October 1934.
A super athelete who goes by various names—including Smith!—volunteers for a medical experiment and tells the story of his long life through the centuries.
—Michael Main
Physically, I am thirty-three years of age. But, counting years of terrestrial chronology, I am three hundred and eighteen years old.
Tags
(7)
- Time Periods
- Circa AD 1930 to 1939: In 2350, the man says “I am three hundred and eighteen years old.” But he must have meant 418 because later he says that in 1950 he was 18 years old, so he was actually born in 1932.
- Circa AD 2100 to 2199: The story’s start: “It was the year 2150.”
- Circa AD 2200 to 2299: The story’s second section: “It was the year 2250.”
- Near Future, AD 2300 and Beyond: The story’s third section: “It was the year 2350.”
- Themes
- Altered Metabolic Rates: “Several doctor friends of my father were dumfounded when they discovered that my heart beat was twelve times a minute.”
- Long Life
- Groupings
Variants
(1)
- “Man of Ages” by K. F. Ziska , Astounding Stories, October 1934.
Indexer Notes
(1)
- Long life—The man makes talks about relativistic time dilation, but only as being similar to how he has lived for centuries.