Through some barely understood means, a school teacher is sent back in time to stop Lee Harvey Oswald from assassinating President John F. Kennedy on 11/22/63.
Sound familiar?
Just wait. This is one crazy story that takes “obdurate” to a whole other level.
. . . Then, with a smile, he says to Laura, “Do you understand what I am saying?”
“Not really,” she admits.
“You are a nice lady, so I will tell you what I am saying.” I get the feeling that if he did not think Laura was a nice lady, he would never tell her. “If we could take an object and break it into energy patterns—then into individual scaler waves—then beam them through space and time—then reinterfere to recover their energy pattern and intensify the pattern and condense it into matter again—the object will condense in the future or in the past. It is theoretically possible for an object to travel forward or backward in time.”
[page 20]
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Stanley Shapiro’s A Time to Remember was first published in hardback by Random House in 1986.
However, this blog post is based upon my reading of the mass-market paperback Signet edition published in 1988. It was a relatively quick and easy read comprising 27 fast-paced chapters
Stanley Shapiro was born in Brooklyn on 16 July 1925. He started out as a writer selling material to comedians. Later, Shapiro wrote for The Fred Allen Show on radio. In 1950, he relocated to Hollywood to write for television on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show.
Over the course of his career as a writer, Shapiro was nominated for several Oscars and won Best Written American Comedy from the Writers Guild of America. He is also credited as a writer on the 1959 Universal movie, Operation Petticoat, one of my all time favorite comedies.
A Time to Remember, Shapiro’s second and final novel, was initially published in 1986. In 1990 (ironically) his final job was co-writing the teleplay for the TV movie Running Against Time which was based on his A Time to Remember. Shapiro would not live to see it air.
Stanley Shapiro died from leukemia on 21 July 1990 in Los Angeles.
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I am not sure how to adequately summarize this tale. At its most basic, a time traveler from 1985 goes back to thwart the assassination of J. F. K. However, that does not even begin to describe the whole mess of crazy that is A Time to Remember.
So, here goes. . .
David Russell mourns the death of his beloved older brother, Christopher, killed in Viet Nam. David holds to the belief that if JFK had lived, Christopher would not have died. In 1985, David, now an adult, finds happiness and love with Laura in Dallas, Texas. He works as an English teacher and she hosts a TV program covering science topics.
Dr. Koopman, a world famous physicist, was a guest on one of her episodes in which they discussed the real scientific possibility of time travel. Later David approached Koopman with the proposition to use his already built and tested time machine to send David back to stop Oswald; and thus indirectly saving his brother.
After much planning and then, finally convincing Laura, Koopman and David were ready to begin. They determine to send David to the roof of the School Book Depository at 12:15pm on November 22, 1963—a few minutes before Oswald is supposed to open fire. This would give David just enough time to get to Oswald, stop him, and return to the roof to the time portal to take him home.
Koopman and Laura intend to remain behind in the time machine lab in 1985. They will know of David’s success by viewing copies of newspaper headlines of November 22, 1963. As David affects history, the newspaper headlines should morph to reflect the new reality.
On the appointed day, with Koopman and Laura watching, David is sent back in time. He arrives on time and on target, November 22, 1963 in Dallas. He has only a few minutes to stop Oswald and reset history! Desperate to get off the roof to get to Oswald, David finds the door from the roof to the stairwell stuck! Taking precious minutes for him to wrench it open, Oswald opens fire just as he enters the sixth floor! Too late, David and Oswald struggle. As help arrives, Oswald calls out that David is the killer. Forced to flee, David is captured in the street and held for the murder of the President.
Meanwhile back in 1985, Koopman and Laura are dismayed to witness the headlines change to reflect that an unknown person (David) had killed President Kennedy and the hero, Lee Harvey Oswald, tried unsuccessfully to stop the assassination.
It is important to note that while in the lab, Koopman and Laura are isolated from the reality of the altered timeline. In essence, they haven’t lived (i.e. experienced) those years yet. However, upon leaving the lab the full impact of the resetting of history and the full knowledge and understanding of the new timeline’s intervening years flood into them. This includes the terrible fact that in 1985, having never revealed any information about himself, David is still alive and rotting in prison.
More than anything else, the fact that David is still alive and in prison in this revised 1985 motivates Laura to take action. She decides to go back to 1963, but a day early, 11/21, in order to get ahead of David and hopefully prevent his calamity. So, Laura makes the time jump perfectly. . . and is immediately hit by a car! She wakes up in a Dallas hospital suffering from a minor concussion and is horrified to learn she has been out for a whole day. It is now the 22nd and it is nearly noon! Sneaking out of the hospital, Laura steals a car and heads for the book depository. Pulling over near her destination, she observes the Presidential motorcade frantically speeding away. People are shouting and running about. Suddenly, someone runs into her car. David! Laura yells for him to get in. He is stunned that she is there, but gets in. They speed off. Back in 1985, Koopman despairs at the new headlines. A man and woman, now fugitives, are blamed for the President’s murder.
Still on the run, David finds out that his child-self from 1963, died the moment the 1985 version of him appeared in 1963; the same with Laura. David and Laura avoid capture and have adventures, each highlighting the obdurate nature of the past. In growing desperation, they decide to approach Koopman (1963 version) and seek his help. Amazingly, they are able to convince Koopman that they are not crazy and really from 1985.
Koopman uses his world-renown to secure an interview with the new President, Lyndon B. Johnson. The three of them successfully convince President Johnson that his increasing efforts in Viet Nam will only lead to defeat and chaos. L. B. J. is shaken to his core. Upon recovering, he resolves to not be beaten in Viet Nam. He takes the time travelers’ warning and will use it to destroy Viet Nam with overwhelming force! Not quite the result they were hoping for.
Back in 1985, Koopman learns of this revised past. When he leaves his lab, he is smacked with the detailed knowledge of the intervening years. Koopman knows what he has to do. After purchasing a handgun (quite easy in this “new” present) Koopman returns to his lab and finishes preparations for his scheme. Before time jumping back just prior to Laura’s arrival in 1963, Koopman rigs his lab to utterly destroy itself once his jump is complete. No one will time travel again!
Koopman arrives in 1963 and soon after joins up with Laura. With Laura driving on their way to meet up with David at the book depository, they come across Lee Harvey Oswald. He, too, is heading to the book depository, but on foot. They slow down and Koopman shoots him. They drive off and leave Oswald dying in the street. They meet up with David in the 6th floor of the School Book Depository and the three of them watch as J. F. K. drives away, very much alive.
And now, the future of this past is all new.
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A Supplement to 11/22/63: A Novel
This blog post is the second in an occasional series intended to enhance the reader’s experience of Stephen King’s fantastic work of time travel fiction, 11/22/63: A Novel. Other works with similar themes will be investigated; perhaps discovering potential influences on King. Also explored are subjects tangentially connected to King’s masterwork, such as interviews and other related topics.
In the case of A Time to Remember, the parallels with Stephen king’s work are surprising. However, before I go any further, I am pleased to credit 11.22.63: An Event Podcast with introducing me to A Time to Remember.
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| Screen capture of podcast's Instagram. |
Prior to the particular episode of this podcast, I had not even heard of this book. In a very real sense, 11.22.63: An Event Podcast is responsible for the genesis for the idea of this occasional series of blog posts here on Old Sins Cast Long Shadows. In addition to covering the original novel and the Hulu series, this podcast provides bonus episodes exploring in-depth related themes and topics in relevant fiction, including A Time to Remember. Though the podcast has ended, I still heartily recommend its many episodes to anyone interested in Stephen King’s 11/22/63: A Novel.
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There are several related themes, or maybe plot mechanics that are common to both A Time to Remember and 11/22/63: A Novel, and that even calls back to The Lincoln Hunters. However, in no way are these similarities meant to imply that King took plot elements or was even influenced by Shapiro’s tale. It is certainly true that separate writers can come up with similar plotlines while still telling entirely unique tales. In any case, there are striking similarities between this work and King’s. Most notably, they involve the protagonist who, in both novels, is:
-a male school teacher
-he is guided by an older man, a father-figure, who possesses an in-depth understanding of the mechanics of time travel
-he faces situations that appear to stubbornly oppose his goals
-and, time travel exists through some secret means unknown to him.
The Means of Time Travel
Interestingly enough, these works handle the means of time travel in completely divergent ways. Stephen King in 11/22/63: A Novel introduces his time portal—“the rabbit-hole”—as something that just “is,” a part of nature like a mountain or a waterfall. However, later in 11/22/63: A Novel, King provides a more . . . nuanced explanation of what the rabbit-hole is:
. . . Think of a glass of ginger ale that’s been left out and forgotten.
Okay …
After two or three days, almost all the carbonation is gone, but there are still a few bubbles left. What you call the rabbit-hole isn’t a hole at all. It’s a bubble.
Page 795
I take the above quote to imply that this bubble (rabbit-hole) is some sort of unusual natural phenomenon.
“The rabbit-hole” is the term used in the novel to describe a passage way that opens onto a particular locale at 11:58 a.m. on 9 September 1958. The “Traveler” has no say in the when or where of the arrival. No matter how many times one goes through the passage, there is only the one option. The “Traveler” emerges at the same place, at the same time, on the same day, in the same year . . . Each and every time.
To play Devil’s Advocate for a moment, is it remotely possible that “the rabbit-hole” may be, in whole or in part, a relic from some eldritch super technology long forgotten? This idea was very, very loosely hinted at by King in the novel.
In contrast, the means of time travel in A Time to Remember is a technological creation. In both A Time to Remember and The Lincoln Hunters, the “Traveler” establishes the time and place of travel. For example, in A Time to Remember, David chooses to arrive on the roof of the School Book Depository just minutes prior to the first shots. Similarly, Laura decides to appear the day before David’s arrival, in front of Koopman’s house in 1963. This technological foundation for time travel stands in sharp contrast to Stephen King’s rationalization for it in 11/22/63: A Novel.
The Rules & Regulations of Time Travel
In each of the time travel works I have considered, there is presented a structure to time travel as well as the consequences of breaking that structure. In other words, rules and regulations apply to time travel in fiction. It seems obvious in a tale of time travel, but having the actual means of time travel be believable is crucial. Technological breakthroughs are a part of modern life, and are simply more plausible than a mysterious origin for the means of time travel.
In 11/22/63: A Novel, Stephen King brought to the fore two rules of time travel fiction that I would consider foundational to the entire sub-genre.
“Every time is the first time”—the portal drops the traveler always to the same time and same place every trip. Each trip thru the portal resets the past (there is a huge caveat with this).
“The Past is obdurate” —in 11/22/63: A Novel, there is a mysterious power, almost a force of nature, that stubbornly interferes with all attempts to alter the natural timeline.
A Time to Remember explores these rules further. Each time a traveler went back, the timeline was not reset, but instead restarted from an earlier point. Thus circumstances were allowed to play out anew, providing another opportunity to get things right.
A Time to Remember describes its own version of King’s obdurate past—the mysterious force that impedes all attempts to change the timeline. All through this book, it makes itself known in big and little ways. And, like the “obdurate past,” Koopman uses a phrase to describe this force, referring to it as “sometimes better is worse” [page 92]. Here, he means that even the attempt to make a situation better can lead to a far worse outcome, in which A Time to Remember certainly delivers.
Lastly, there is the matter of the consequences of breaking these rules and regulations. A Time to Remember offers a simple treatment for the time-travel-tale trope of encountering a future or past version of oneself. For example, when David traveled back to 1963, that timeline became his new future. His young self already living in 1963 dies the moment 1985’s version of David appeared. Only one David can have that future—can exist in that timeline. The same would occur to Laura and Koopman’s 1963 versions when their 1985 selves’ time traveled back.
Similar ideas were put forward in The Lincoln Hunters. In The Lincoln Hunters, the travelers do not have to worry about encountering their younger selves. They travel too far into their past for that to be a concern. They were, however, concerned with meeting themselves after making multiple trips to the same time. The result would lead to the death of one of the time traveling versions.
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In this occasional series exploring the time-travel sub-genre as it related to and measured against Stephen King’s 11/22/63: A Novel. Two works have been discussed, so far. There are more works, fiction and not, that will be considered for future inclusion in this series. However, the next post takes a different turn, with a closer look at an aspect of the audiobook version of 11/22/63: A Novel. Harkening back to the original post for this series, this next post presents a transcript of an interview with the audiobook’s narrator, Craig Wasson.
Good night.
References
Print Resources
Shapiro, Stanley. A Time to Remember. Signet: New York, 1986, 1988.
Digital Resources
Online Resources
DeFilippis, Christopher and Skipper Martin, hosts. “11.22.63 Bonus Episode 3: A Time To Remember Running Against Time.” 11.22.63: An Event Podcast. Barren Space Productions. 02 July 2016. https://barrenspace.com/112263/11-22-63-bonus-episode-3-a-time-to-remember-running-against-time/
“Stanley Shapiro,” IMDB. Web. 11 May 2019. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0788630/
Von Ruff, Al. “A Time to Remember.” The Internet Speculative Fiction Database. ISFDB. Web. 12 May 2019. http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?12196
Wikipedia contributors. "Stanley Shapiro." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 09 November 2018. Web. 05 May 2019. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Shapiro
