History Literature / TheManWhoFoldedHimself

* BiTheWay: Dan seems to be bisexual, as he has sex with both male and female versions of himself. He doesn't appear to know about bisexuality, though, thinking it means he's choosing to be homosexual or not. The book was written in 1972, before the concept of bisexuality may have been that prevalent (the author himself is gay).

* IShouldWriteABookAboutThis: Daniel's uncle telling him to keep a journal is a time-travel version of this. It sets up Daniel to start writing the book before Daniel knows that there is anything special ''to'' write about.

* AlternateHistory: Dan's changes in time cause a few of these, though he "excises" them back afterward for being too different from the culture he is familiar with. The most radical change, and the quickest to set back, is the timeline where Christianity never came to be. At one point he stops himself from preventing the assassination of UsefulNotes/RobertFKennedy after President UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy's efforts accidentally lead to a Coca Cola bottle being discovered in the ruins of Pompeii, thus providing public proof of time travel being possible -- as opposed to ''going back to pick up the bottle''.

* HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct: {{Subverted}}. First he kidnaps Hitler as a baby and drops him off into the future. This does not turn out so well, and so he "excises" doing this, but then ensures Hitler is assassinated by his generals in 1939.

* AlternateHistory: Dan's changes in time cause a few of these, though he "excises" them back afterward for being too different from the culture he is familiar with. The most radical change, and the quickest to set back, is the timeline where Christianity never came to be. At one point he stops himself from preventing the assassination of [=RFK=] after President Kennedy's efforts accidentally lead to a Coca Cola bottle being discovered in the ruins of Pompeii, thus providing public proof of time travel being possible -- as opposed to ''going back to pick up the bottle''.

* GenderBender: Dan meets Diana, the female version of himself, whom he has sex and conceives a child with. [[spoiler: This turns out to be himself]].

** In one of the oddest cases of an ontological paradox [[spoiler:Dan meets Diana, who is an alternate version of himself who had a sex-change while in the womb; or quite possibly Dan is a male version of Diana. Either way, Dan becomes his own mother and father as a result and Dan raises himself as his uncle Jim. Confused?]]
*** When Dan and Diana first have a baby together, it's a boy (who grows up to be Dan - see). But Diana is so upset that she didn't get the girl she wanted, she goes into the future and gets medication to alter the baby's sex, then goes back and gives it to herself just before having sex with Dan. Thus a new timeline is created where they have a girl (who grows up to be Diana). Dan is then upset that they didn't have a boy, and pulls the same gambit, supposedly budding off yet another timeline with a boy. And so on ad infinitum....

* [[spoiler: MyOwnGrandpa See Temporal Paradox]]

* SpeculativeFictionLGBT: time travelling Daniel ends up in a relationship with himself after travelling alongside various realities of himself, as well as with a woman called Diane — who may also be a version of Daniel from another reality.

** In one of the oddest cases of an ontological paradox [[spoiler:Dan meets Diana who is an alternate version of himself who had a sex-change while in the womb; or quite possibly Dan is a male version of Diana. Either way, Dan becomes his own mother and father as a result and Dan raises himself as his uncle Jim. Confused?]]
*** When Dan and Diana first have a baby together, it's a boy (who grows up to be Dan - see '''Time Paradox'''). But Diana is so upset that she didn't get the girl she wanted, she goes into the future and gets medication to alter the baby's sex, then goes back and gives it to herself just before having sex with Dan. Thus a new timeline is created where they have a girl (who grows up to be Diana). Dan is then upset that they didn't have a boy, and pulls the same gambit, supposedly budding off yet another timeline with a boy. And so on ad infinitum....

The story follows Daniel (in 1975), a college student, whose uncle increases his allowance (to help with living expenses) if he promises to keep a journal. After his uncle dies, Daniel inherits a "Timebelt" that allows him to travel in time so he goes into the future, meets his future self and makes a large winning on the horse races. Soon after he realises he has to accompany his younger self to the previous day at the horse races and make the same results.

* BiTheWay: Dan seems to be bisexual, as he has sex with both male and female versions of himself. He doesn't appear to know about bisexuality, though, thinking it means he's choosing to be homosexual or not. The book was originally written in 1972 before the concept of bisexuality may have been that prevalent (the author himself is gay).

* BiTheWay: Dan seems to be bisexual, as he has sex with both male and female versions of himself. He doesn't appear to know about bisexuality, though, thinking it means he's choosing to be homosexual or not. The book was written in 1972 before the concept of bisexuality may have been that prevalent (though the author himself is gay).

* BiTheWay: Dan seems to be bisexual, as he has sex with both male and female versions of himself. He doesn't appear to have this concept, though, thinking it means he's choosing to be homosexual or not. The book was written in 1972 before the concept of bisexuality may have been that prevalent (though the author himself is gay).

* HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct: Subverted. First he kidnaps Hitler as a baby and drops him off into the future. This does not turn out so well, and so he "excises" doing this, but then ensures Hitler is assassinated by his generals in 1939.

*** When Dan and Diana first have a baby together, it's a boy (who grows up to be Dan - see '''Time Paradox'''). But Diana is so upset that she didn't get the girl she wanted, she goes into the future and gets medication to force the gender of the baby, then goes back and gives it to herself just before she has with Dan. Thus a new timeline is created where they have a girl (who grows up to be Diana). Dan is then upset that they didn't have a boy, and pulls the same gambit, supposedly budding off yet another timeline with a boy. And so on ad infinitum....

* RippleEffectProofMemory

''The Man Who Folded Himself'' is a 1973 science fiction novel by Creator/DavidGerrold that deals with time travel. It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1973 and the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1974. Pretty clearly Gerrold's attempt at writing the end-all and be-all time-travel looping novel, it apparently had another [[ScrewYourself f-word]] in its title, but the publisher wouldn't go for it.

''The Man Who Folded Himself'' is a 1973 science fiction novel by DavidGerrold that deals with time travel. It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1973 and the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1974. Pretty clearly Gerrold's attempt at writing the end-all and be-all time-travel looping novel, it apparently had another [[ScrewYourself f-word]] in its title, but the publisher wouldn't go for it.

!!This novel provides examples of:

** In one of the most oddest cases of an ontological paradox [[spoiler:Dan meets Diana who is an alternate version of himself who had a sex-change while in the womb; or quite possibly Dan is a male version of Diana. Either way, Dan becomes his own mother and father as a result and Dan raises himself as his uncle Jim. Confused?]]

* AlternateHistory: Dan changes in time cause a few of these, though he "excises" them back afterward for being too different from the culture he is familiar with. The most radical change, and the quickest to set back, is the timeline where Christianity never came to be. At one point he stops himself from preventing the assassination of [=RFK=] after President Kennedy's efforts accidentally lead to a Coca Cola bottle being discovered in the ruins of Pompeii, thus providing public proof of time travel being possible -- as opposed to ''going back to pick up the bottle''.

* AllTheMyriadWays: Daniel gets a little unhinged over time, screwing with history just to see what would happen. At one point he stops himself from preventing the assassination of [=RFK=] after President Kennedy's efforts accidentally lead to a Coca Cola bottle being discovered in the ruins of Pompeii, thus providing public proof of time travel being possible -- as opposed to ''going back to pick up the bottle''.
* AlternateHistory: Dan changes in time cause a few of these, though he "excises" them back afterward for being too different from the culture he is familiar with. The most radical change, and the quickest to set back, is the timeline where Christianity never came to be.

** In one of the most oddest cases of an ontological paradox [[spoiler:Dan meets Diana who is an alternate version of himself who had a sex-change while in the womb; or quite possibly Dan is a male version of Diana. Either way, Dan becomes his own mother and father as a result. Confused?]]

** In one of the most oddest cases of an ontological paradox [[spoiler:Dan meets Diana who is an alternate version of himself who had a sex-change while in the womb; or quite possibly Dan is a male version of Daniel. Either way, Dan becomes his own mother and father as a result. Confused?]]

* [[spoiler MyOwnGrandpa: See Temporal Paradox]]

** In one of the most oddest cases of an ontological paradoxes [[spoiler:Dan meets Diana who is an alternate version of himself who had a sex-change while in the womb; or quite possibly Dan is a male version of Daniel. Either way, Dan becomes his own mother and father as a result. Confused?]]

* PopulationControl: Daniel speculates at one point that the Timebelt might have been originally invented as a humane way to dispose of excess humanity, as anyone who uses it to travel never reappears in their 'original' timeline but in a splinter universe. Thus thrill-seekers, sociopaths, or criminals [[AllTheMyriadWays become somebody else's problem]].

* TemporalParadox: Averted. Rather than simply traveling through a single timeline, history splits off wherever Daniel travels. Whatever moment in history he "leaves" keeps going on forever, with Daniel simply having vanished.