The Chronic Argonauts

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The Chronic Argonauts is a science fiction short story by HG Wells that features a time machine. The story was published in 1888, seven years before the appearance of his novel The Time Machine , and it also mentioned a journey into the future, which is only mentioned, not described.

The outstanding themes of the story are the superstitious, the science with incomprehension and potentially murderous uneducated rural population and the character of the solitary, lonely scientist who sees himself as an "anachronistic man" born outside of his own time. Also noteworthy is the change in the narrative perspective, which changes from the usual observer position when switching to the present to a narration about the author, and then even for a moment to a first-person narration before finally switching back to standard mode.

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In the small Welsh town of Llyddwdd, the mysterious Dr. Moses Nebogipfel in 1887 in a dilapidated house where, according to local belief, former resident Williams, murdered by his sons, is still haunted. The superstitious villagers talk a lot, and when the house, now supplied with electric light, shines brightly at night and later a villager near the house dies with spastic convulsions, it seems clear: Dr. Nebogipfel is in league with the devil. Even the soothing words of the local doctor and the Reverend Cook do not help; a mob forms that want to burn down the house and the devil. But when the pack enter the house, they see Dr. Nebogipfel and a person who some identify as the Reverend Cook and others as the ghost of the murdered former resident stand on a strange device and disappear.

Here the narrative changes to the experiences of the author, who some time after the events in Llyddwdd witnessed the appearance of the Reverend Cook; he asks for the date, thanks God for his luck and collapses. On his deathbed he dictates to the author, at this moment the story becomes a first-person narration, his experiences, which are said to include the murder of Williams in 1862, a kidnapping in 4003 and various incidents in 17.901.

Now the story switches back to the past, in which Reverend Cook Dr. Tried to warn Nebogipfel about the murderous mob, where he witnessed Nebogipfel, covered in blood, appear on a strange device. Nebogipfel explains that he traveled back in time to the house where he met up with Williams and his sons; Williams attacked him believing he was dealing with a demon, and he killed him in self-defense. When he returned he found the Reverend. Now the murder mob pulls open the door; the narrative ends with the advent of the Temporal Argonauts.

reception

Of course, the story is considered the forerunner of the later novel The Time Machine ; however, the character of the scientist in the short story is viewed as a rather long- serving stereotype of the magician or artist, such as those used by Mary Shelley and RL Stevenson . Bernard Bergonzi writes in his book The Early HG Wells: A Study of the Scientific Romances : "Nebogipfel is, like Frankenstein, a loner keen on secrecy. He corresponds to the contemporary aesthetic ideal of the artist who has to suffer in isolation before he can create can ". Others argue that Wells used Edison as a template.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Nebogipfel, like Frankenstein, is of a solitary and secretive disposition. To this extent, too, it corresponds to the contemporary aesthetic ideal of the artist who must necessarily be isolated and suffering before he can create.
  2. http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/78/willis78art.htm