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