Commentaire pour servir à la construction pratique de la machine à explorer le temps

English release: How to Construct a Time Machine Literal: Commentary for use in the practical construction of a time machine

by Alfred Jarry

Inspired by Wells, Jarry’s fictional Dr. Faustroll tells exactly what’s needed to build your very own time machine.

— Michael Main

Space and Time are commensurable. To explore the universe by seeking knowledge of points in Space can be accomplished only through Time; and in order to measure Time quantitatively, we refer to Space intervals on the dial of a chronometer. Space and Time, being of the same nature, may be conceived of as different physical states of the same substance, or as differ ent modes of motion.

[ex=bare]“Commentaire pour servir à la construction pratique de la machine à explorer le temps” | Commentary for use in the practical construction of a time machine[/ex] by Alfred Jarry, in Mercure de France, February 1899.

El jardin de senderos que se bifurcan

English release: The Garden of Forking Paths Literal: The garden of forking paths

by Jorge Luís Borges

[ex=bare]“El jardin de senderos que se bifurcan” | The garden of forking paths[/ex] by Jorge Luís Borges, in El jardin de senderos que se bifurcan, (Sur, 1941).

Time Trap

by Charles L. Harness

The story presents a fixed series of events, which includes a man disappearing at one point in the future and (from his point of view) reappearing at the start of the story to then interact with himself, his own wife, and the evil alien.

It’s nice that there’s no talk of the universe exploding when he meets himself, but even so, the story suffers from a murkiness that is often part of time-travel stories that are otherwise enjoyable. The murkiness stems from two points: (1) That somehow the events are repeating over and over again—but from whose viewpoint? (2) The events are deterministic and must be acted out exactly the same each time. I enjoy clever stories that espouse the viewpoint of the second item (“By His Bootstraps”). But this does not play well with the first item, and (as with many stories), Harness did not address that conflict nor the consequent issue of free will. Still, I enjoyed the story and wish I’d met Harness when I traveled to Penn State University in the spring of 1982.

But searching down time, Troy-Poole now found only the old combination of Troy and Poole he knew so well. Hundreds, thousands, millions of them, each preceding the other. As far back as he could sense, there was always a Poole hovering over a Troy. Now he would become the next Poole, enmesh the next Troy in the web of time, and go his own way to bloody death.

“Time Trap” by Charles L. Harness, Astounding, August 1948.

Mr. F Is Mr. F

by J. G. Ballard

“Mr. F Is Mr. F” by J. G. Ballard, Science Fantasy, August 1961.

Now Is Forever

by Thomas M. Disch

“Now Is Forever” by Thomas M. Disch, Amazing Stories, March 1964.

Man in His Time

by Brian Aldiss

Janet Westerman is trying to cope with the return of her husband Jack from a mission to Mars in which some aspect of the planet made it so that his sensory input now comes from 3.3077 minutes in the future.

Dropping the letter, she held her head in her hands, closing her eyes as in the curved bone of her skull she heard all her possible courses of action jar together, future lifelines that annihilated each other.

“Man in His Time” by Brian Aldiss, in Science Fantasy, April 1965.

Traveller’s Rest

by David I. Masson

“Traveler’s Rest’” by David I. Masson, in Worlds Best Science Fiction, edited by Terry Carr and Donald A. Wollheim (Ace Books, 1966).

Divine Madness

by Roger Zelazny

A man has seizures that reverse small portions of his life that he must then relive.

The door slammed open.

“Divine Madness” by Roger Zelazny, in Magazine of Horror, Summer 1966.

The Great Clock

by Langdon Jones

“The Great Clock” by Langdon Jones, New Worlds, March 1966.

Unification Day

by George Collyn

“Unification Day” by George Collyn, New Worlds SF, May 1966.

The Traps of Time

Anthologies