Time Travel novels are unique in the sense that they offer the reader so many different possibilities. Through a time travel novel, a reader may see the past but hold on to his modern perspective. Alternatively, he may get to see what the very far future holds for us. Throughout the novels, he could envision interacting with famous historical characters. Time Travel even enables us to ask the ‘What If?’ question: we can change certain key points in our personal or global history, and see what would’ve happened as a result. But most importantly, Time Travel enables creating sophisticated stories that may have the potential to challenge any type of reader, by weaving a complex web of past and present.
In this article, we try to categorize the various sub-genres of Time Travel. Clearly, some types of novels could fall into more than one category. In addition, we try to supply an example (mostly a movie example) when one comes to mind.
Alternate Reality: in this category of novel/movie, the protagonist travels to the past, and makes a change that affects the present. At times, this happens multiple times. The point here is usually to examine how one or more decisions, which at times could be very small, could have transformed the world. Example: A Sound of Thunder.
Anthology: a collection of multiple short stories or 2-3 medium sized stories. Although this is not specific to time travel, I feel obligated to mention this since this is one of the classifications that can be used for time travel.
Effects of Time Travel Technologies on Society: in these novels and movies, time travel is not actually achieved. However, something related does happen: certain knowledge is being transferred from the past or the future to the present. This knowledge is so important, so radical, that it affects every person on the world – and changes society. For example: Knowing (Nicholas Cage’s new movie).
Fantasy: there are numerous fantasy novels where time travel takes place (can’t think of a movie though). Although in many ways this should not make a difference, my personal feeling is that it does. Since time travel (often) enables the reader to examine a future version of our world – or conversely – see the world as it used to be, I don’t feel that using it in a fantasy setting has the same meaning. Consequently, I’ve given these novels their own classification.
Future Reality: in this class of novel/movie, the protagonist is being transported in some way to the future. It could be done using a time machine, being cryogenically frozen, or moving close to the speed of light. The end result is, we are being given the opportunity to witness one – or more – version of the society of the future. Examples: Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Planet of the Apes, The Time Machine.
Historical Characters: in this type of novels, the focus is on certain types of real historical characters that have existed at some point in time (and normally have been dead for a while). These historical characters are either transported to the present or the future, or simply put in contact with people from our present. The point of this sub-genre is to get (or more accurately, speculate) on what the perspective of these characters would be with regards certain issues. Example: (perhaps not the best one): Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.
Past and Future Time Travel: in these novels the protagonist normally gets to travel to various periods of time: from the very deep past to the very far future. Since the settings are so varied, normally the point here is the adventure: witnessing many diverse and fascinating settings.
Past Time Travel: in this type of novel, a character is transported to the past, many times never returning to the future. Even though it may seem that the time travel aspect is unnecessary here, the point is to use the character’s modern perspective to view the historical setting. In addition, this gives the author plenty of opportunities to create paradoxes, a plot device favored by many authors. Examples: Timeline, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, the Time Tunnel.
Personal Alternate Reality: the same concept of ‘Alternate Reality’ applies here, only the changes take place within an individual person’s life. Normally these novels allow us to examine how an individual’s single decision could have changed the entire course of his life – for better or worse. This is a very popular movie theme. Examples: Groundhog Day, Back to the Future.
Personal Time Travel: in this type of novel, a similar concept to ‘Personal Alternate Reality’ is applied: the protagonist often has some kind of ability to travel to his own future and past, at times he has the ability to actually make changes (and see how this would’ve affected his life), but other times he cannot make any changes and is simply doomed to relive certain events over and over. Movie example: The Butterfly Effect, Novel: The Time Traveler’s Wife.
Plot Device: in these novels/movies, time travel is a large component of the plot, though often just a way to push it in a certain way. I also included here novels which utilize some kind of a time effect – not necessary time travel (i.e. the ability to freeze time). Example: the most recent season of Lost.