History Literature / FutureTimesThree

* HiveCasteSystem: Humans of the year 100,000 are split into different subspecies with different mansions: sexless workers who tend to farm animals, "eaters" who are little more than a stomach and a mouth, muscular SuperSoldiers with AbsurdlySharpClaws, and so on.

In the middle of UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo, young mathematician Pierre Saint-Menoux meets [[GeniusCripple wheelchair-bound scientist]] Noël Essaillon (as well as his [[MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter beautiful daughter]] Annette), inventor of the substance that allows time travel — Noëlite. Thankful to Pierre, whose mathematical work allowed the Noëlite breakthrough, Essaillon enlists him in the exploration of time, using Noëlite pills at first, then a special "time suit".

Concentrating more on the philosophical and existential consequences of TimeTravel rather than the technical aspects, the book explores — and sometimes invents — many TimeTravel concepts, such as [[TemporalMutability the extent to which history can be changed]], the ethics of [[TimeTravelEscape saving someone who was supposed to die]] and whether people from the past count as "real" or not since they're already dead from your point of view. The novel is often credited with [[TropeMaker inventing]] the GrandfatherParadox, although this particular claim is debatable.[[labelnote:*]]The earliest edition features no paradox — someone who kills their ancestor simply vanishes. The paradoxical nature of the event — if they were never born, they cannot have killed their ancestor — is acknowledged in an appendix of the 1958 reprint, when the GrandfatherParadox had already appeared elsewhere.[[/labelnote]]

* ToTheFutureAndBeyond: Pierre visits both the year 2052 — where he witnesses the collapse of civilization — and later the year 100,000, where what's left of mankind has evolved into something nearly unrecognizable. Some reconnaissance trips between the two ages help him understand how this evolution took place.

** Pierre accidentally appears his neighbour's parents wedding during one of his travels. The shock drives the bride mad and the wedding is cancelled, and Pierre discovers when he comes back to the present that his neighbour was never born.

Written when TimeTravelTropes were [[UnbuiltTrope not yet codified]], ''Future Times Three'' has too many ideas to explore to remain confined to a single plot point. Consequently, the novel is organized as a series of {{Story Arc}}s: the introduction and testing of time travel; the exploration of the future, especially the [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt collapse of society]] in 2052 and the unrecognizable world of the year 100.000; Pierre's attempt, [[spoiler:after Essaillon's death]], to escape wartime hardship by turning time travel to more [[TimeTravelForFunAndProfit practical]] (though dangerous and morally dubious) applications. [[spoiler:What gets Pierre in the end, however, is his existential curiosity: he sets out to kill Napoleon to see if history can be changed, only to kill his own great-grandfather by accident and vanishing]].

In the middle of UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo, young mathematician Pierre Saint-Menoux meets [[GeniusCripple wheelchair-bound scientist]] Noël Essaillon (as well as his [[MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter beautiful daughter]] Annette), inventor the substance that allows time travel — Noëlite. Thankful to Pierre, whose mathematical work allowed the Noëlite breakthrough, Essaillon enlists him in the exploration of time, using Noëlite pills at first, then a special "time suit".

Concentrating more on the philosophical and existential consequences of TimeTravel rather than the technical aspects, the book explores — and sometimes invents — many TimeTravel concepts, such as [[TemporalMutability the extent to which history can be changed]], the ethics of [[TimeTravelEscape saving someone who was supposed to die]] and whether people from the past count as "real" or not since they're already dead from your point of view. The novel is often credited with [[TropeMaker inventing]] the GrandfatherParadox, although this particular claim is debatable.[[labelnote:*]]The earliest edition features no paradox -- someone who kills their ancestor simply vanishes. The paradoxical nature of the event -- if they were never born, they cannot have killed their ancestor -- is acknowledged in an appendix of the 1958 reprint, when the GrandfatherParadox had already appeared elsewhere.[[/labelnote]]

* ScienceIsBad: One of the underlying themes of the novel, like in most of Barjavel's works. Essaillon eventually comes to conclude that preventing his own death via time travel is sacrilegious, and accepts to die, along with his maid who they had similarly saved before. The future civilisation does not rely on technology any more (although it can be debated on whether its can be considered a utopia or a BadFuture). Finally, Pierre's misuse of the time machine causes him [[RetGone to erase himself from history]].

* SharedUniverse: The future Pierre visits in 2052 takes place some time after the events described in one of his previous novels, ''Ashes, ashes''. A footnote invites the reader to check it to know what happened.
* TimeyWimeyBall: The novel handles inconsistently how people remember alterations to the past. Pierre remembers not meeting Essaillon's maid on his first visit because she was dead at the time, and the main characters remember Essaillon's death before they change it via time travel (including Essaillon himself). On the other hand, characters that are RetGone due to Pierre's changes to the past are instantly forgotten, including by Pierre himself.

''Future Times Three'' (original title ''Le Voyageur Imprudent'', i.e. “The Careless Traveller”), by Creator/ReneBarjavel, is a seminal novel about TimeTravel and a cornerstone of French ScienceFiction, first published between 1943 and 1944.

In the middle of UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo, young mathematician Pierre Saint-Menoux meets [[GeniusCripple wheelchair-bound scientist]] Noël Essaillon (as well as his [[MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter beautiful daughter]] Annette), inventor the substance that allows time travel — Noëlite. Thankful to Pierre, whose mathematical work allowed the Noëlite breakthrough, Essaillon enlists him in the exploration of time, using Noëlite pills at first, then a special “time suit”.

Written when TimeTravelTropes were [[UnbuiltTrope not yet codified]], ''Future Times Three'' has too many ideas to explore to remain confined to a single plot point. Consequently, the novel is organized as a series of {{Story Arc}}s: the introduction and testing of time travel; the exploration of the future, especially the [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt collapse of society]] in 2052 and the unrecognizable world of the year 100.000; Pierre’s attempt, [[spoiler:after Essaillon’s death]], to escape wartime hardship by turning time travel to more [[TimeTravelForFunAndProfit practical]] (though dangerous and morally dubious) applications. [[spoiler:What gets Pierre in the end, however, is his existential curiosity: he sets out to kill Napoleon to see if history can be changed, only to kill his own great-grandfather by accident and vanishing]].

Concentrating more on the philosophical and existential consequences of TimeTravel rather than the technical aspects, the book explores — and sometimes invents — many TimeTravel concepts, such as [[TemporalMutability the extent to which history can be changed]], the ethics of [[TimeTravelEscape saving someone who was supposed to die]] and whether people from the past count as “real” or not since they’re already dead from your point of view. The novel is often credited with [[TropeMaker inventing]] the GrandfatherParadox, although this particular claim is debatable.[[labelnote:*]]The earliest edition features no paradox -- someone who kills their ancestor simply vanishes. The paradoxical nature of the event -- if they were never born, they cannot have killed their ancestor -- is acknowledged in an appendix of the 1958 reprint, when the GrandfatherParadox had already appeared elsewhere.[[/labelnote]]

!!This book provides examples of:
* ApocalypseHow: When he visits 2052, the protagonist witnesses a planet-wide societal collapse to pre-industrial levels, due to the mysterious “disappearance” of electricity.
* ArtisticLicenseBiology: The world of the year 100,000 contains some impossibilities, such as humans with no anus because “they use 100% of the food they eat”.
* ExtyYearsFromPublication: The [[ApocalypseHow end of civilization]] takes place in 2052, 110 years after the novel’s setting in 1942. In fact, Pierre at first wanted to visit the future in 100 years; Essaillon convinces him to make it 110 to check a Nostradamus prophecy that’s supposed to take place in that year.
* GeniusCripple: Essaillon, the inventor of TimeTravel, is is chair-bound because he lost his feet.
* HiveCasteSystem: Humans of the year 100,000 are split into different subspecies with different mansions: sexless workers who tend to farm animals, “eaters” who are little more than a stomach and a mouth, muscular SuperSoldiers with AbsurdlySharpClaws, and so on.
* MentalTimeTravel: Essaillon’s prototype, the Noëlite pills, work like this: when you take them, you will “rewind” or “fast forward” to your body as it was (or will be) a set amount of time in the past (or future).
* OurTimeMachineIsDifferent: The novel starts with pills that allow MentalTimeTravel; a substance that allows to stop time and a suit that allows for “proper” TimeTravel are invented later.

Concentrating more on the philosophical and existential consequences of TimeTravel rather than the technical aspects, the book explores — and sometimes invents — many TimeTravel concepts, such as [[TemporalMutability the extent to which history can be changed]], the ethics of [[TimeTravelEscape saving someone who was supposed to die]] and whether people from the past count as “real” or not since they’re already dead from your point of view. The novel is often credited with [[TropeMaker inventing]] the GrandfatherParadox, but this particular claim is debatable[[hottip:*:The earliest edition features no paradox -- someone who kills their ancestor simply vanishes. The paradoxical nature of the event -- if they were never born, they cannot have killed their ancestor -- is acknowledged in an appendix of the 1958 reprint, when the GrandfatherParadox had already appeared elsewhere]].