/lit/ - Literature

>>22435180
Great Work of Time - John Crowley (1989)

Caspar Last has invented a time machine, though he only calls it that out of convenience because it isn't a machine and he doesn't believe that time exists. While there's much he could do with it, he's only interested in using it once to enrich himself. To him, it's all in the research and proof that it works. After that, who cares? It's all proven and doesn't matter any longer and it's onto the next project. As you'd expect, someone else feels differently and acquires the ability to time travel from him. Denys Winterset is approached by a man who offers him to join a time traveling organization that changes the past to their preferences. Originally it was founded by Cecil Rhodes, leader of Rhodesia, for the purpose of furthering the British Empire, but their aims have now changed. They believe Winterset to be integral to their existence, and he is, far more than any of them could ever know.

Crowley is a joy to simply read, even when the actual content isn't all that suited to my tastes, though in this case it was. Time travel is one of my preferred themes and I like to see what sort the author employs. In this case time traveling is orthogonal, meaning the traveler can never return to the exact same timeline they were in and they always travel to one that is slightly different. Due to its peculiarities this results in quite the consequences. The closest other to it that I can think of is the film, Primer, though elements of it can be seen in various other time travel media, ranging from All You Zombies to El ministerio del tiempo. A detailed explanation is given for technical aspects of how the time travel would hypothetically work, though the specific process isn't ever explicitly shown. As happens with time travel stories, the narrative isn't told linearly, and there's some initial obfuscation of identities, though eventually everything is clearly explained to the reader.

In terms of its historical accuracy, it reads very well and is clearly researched, which is evidenced by the bibliography provided at the end. Sometimes (oftentimes?) with science fiction the origin of the book simply seems to be that the author has been deeply researching some area of interest and then decide they want to write about it. I've seen this in a wide variety of works and overall I think doing so enhances their writing with the distinct flavor of their research. That goes from "write what you know" to "write what you learned."

Once again I'd like to thank yitr for suggesting that I read Crowley sooner than later. It's only a matter of time before I'll have read almost all, if not all, of Crowley's fiction. All of his works that I've read so far have had the sort of imaginative novelty that I particularly appreciate. Each one has that special something where even if I didn't enjoy it I can still respect it for what it is. Even his most read work is only mildly known, so I recommend you read him.

Rating: 4/5