![Yankee in KAC book](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/Yankee_in_KAC_book.JPG)
Accidental travel is a
speculative fiction plot device
A plot device or plot mechanism
is any technique in a narrative used to move the plot forward. A clichéd plot device may annoy the reader and a contrived or arbitrary device may confuse the reader, causing a loss of the suspension of disbelie ...
in which ordinary people accidentally find themselves outside of their normal place or time, often for no apparent reason, a particular type of the “
fish-out-of-water” plot. In Russian
fandom
A fandom is a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of empathy and camaraderie with others who share a common interest. Fans typically are interested in even minor details of the objects of their fandom and spend a significant ...
, the trope is known under the term ''popadantsy'', plural form for ''popadanets'', female: ''popadanka'',
[Challenges in Strategic Communication and Fighting Propaganda in Eastern Europe: Solutions for a Future Common Project]
p. 46
/ref> a person who accidentally finds himself elsewhere/elsewhen. The Russian term bears ironical flavor, because ''popadantsy'' has become a widespread cliche in Russian pulp science fiction
Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...
.[“Попаданцы: Штампы и Открытия”](_blank)
Boris Nevsky, ''Mir Fantastiki'' ("World of Science Fiction"), no.109; September 2012. Russian critic Boris Nevsky traces this plot device to at least '' Gulliver's Travels'' (18th century).[ In Japanese fiction, the genre of accidental transport into a parallel universe or ]fantasy world
A fantasy world is a world created for/from fictional media, such as literature, film or games. Typical fantasy worlds involve magic or magical abilities, nonexistent technology and, sometimes, either a historical or futuristic theme. Some worl ...
is known as ''isekai
is a Japanese genre of speculative fiction—both portal fantasy and science fiction are included. It includes novels, light novels, films, manga, anime and video games that revolve around a person or people who are transported to and have to ...
''.
Types
The accidental time travel
Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a ...
trope is specifically known as time slip
A time slip is a plot device in fantasy and science fiction in which a person, or group of people, seem to travel through time by unknown means.
The idea of a time slip was used in 19th century fantasy, an early example being Washington Irving ...
. A classical example of time slip is Mark Twain's ''A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
''A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court'' is an 1889 novel by American humorist and writer Mark Twain. The book was originally titled ''A Yankee in King Arthur's Court''. Some early editions are titled ''A Yankee at the Court of King Arth ...
'' (1889), which had considerable influence on later writers.
Other kinds of accidental travel include space travel (e.g., through accidental wormhole
A wormhole ( Einstein-Rosen bridge) is a hypothetical structure connecting disparate points in spacetime, and is based on a special solution of the Einstein field equations.
A wormhole can be visualized as a tunnel with two ends at separate p ...
s, portals (portal fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and drama. ...
, ''isekai
is a Japanese genre of speculative fiction—both portal fantasy and science fiction are included. It includes novels, light novels, films, manga, anime and video games that revolve around a person or people who are transported to and have to ...
'') or other spatial irregularities, or a catastrophic spatial event), travel to an alternative universe, an RPG universe (litRPG
LitRPG, short for literary role playing game, is a literary genre combining the conventions of computer RPGs with science-fiction and fantasy novels. The term was introduced in 2013. In LitRPG, games or game-like challenges form an essential par ...
), or into an alternative history
Alternate history (also alternative history, althist, AH) is a genre of speculative fiction of stories in which one or more historical events occur and are resolved differently than in real life. As conjecture based upon historical fact, alte ...
.[ An early example of catastrophic space travel is '' Hector Servadac'' (1877) by Jules Verne, where a piece of the Earth with several Earthlings is ripped off by a comet. In ''Les Robinsons du cosmos'' (') (1955) by Francis Carsac, pieces of France and the US with plenty of population are ripped off and planted on an alien planet during a galactic collision. In 1912 Edgar Rice Burroughs invented ]John Carter of Mars
John Carter of Mars is a fictional Virginian soldier who acts as the initial protagonist of the Barsoom stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs. A veteran of the American Civil War, he is transported to the planet Mars, called Barsoom by its inhabita ...
, who lands on Mars from a sacred cave where he was hiding from the Apaches.
Still another way to land somewhere is to be abducted or invited by aliens to live in an advanced star-faring civilization. Common cliches include becoming a slave, or a warrior, or a dying person getting a second chance, with the subsequent social advance.
A particular kind of effortless accidental travel is finding oneself in some other place or time occupying someone's else mind, via body swap (mind swap) or mind/ body sharing.[ Carsac wrote the story with the trick of this type as well: in ''Terre en fuite'' (1960) a scientist hit by lightning suddenly becomes a genius and before his death he reveals that his mind melded with the mind of a scientist from far future. However most of the novel is the description of the future of the Earth expecting the Sun to turn supernova.
]
In Russian fiction
Around the break of the millennium ''popadanstvo'' gained an immense popularity in Russian science fiction and fantasy. Responding to the demand, the supply of the novels of this type skyrocketed, with an inevitable drop of the overall quality and degeneration of the inventiveness of the writers into a series of cliches.["Книги про попаданцев: проблемы и штампы"]
/ref>
A significant number of ''popadanstvo'' occur at a key moment in the Russian past. Armed with modern knowledge, they turn the tide to the glory of the Motherland, i.e., a ''popadanets'' becomes a progressor The Noon Universe ( Russian term: "Мир Полудня" or "Мир Полдня" – "World of Noon"; also known as the “Wanderers’ Universe”) is a fictional future setting for a number of hard science fiction novels written by Arkady and B ...
, creating an alternative history. It was suggested that this phenomenon of Russian science fiction is characterized by two motivations: “Mary Sue
A Mary Sue is a character archetype in fiction, usually a young woman, who is often portrayed as inexplicably competent across all domains, gifted with unique talents or powers, liked or respected by most other characters, unrealistically fre ...
”-type drive to self-fulfillment and patriotic nostalgy over the times of Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
superpower ( Communist nostalgia)."Попаданцы у Сталина"
("''Popadantsy'' Visiting Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...
"), Sergey Lukyanenko
Sergei Vasilyevich Lukyanenko (russian: Серге́й Васи́льевич Лукья́ненко, ; born 11 April 1968) is a Russian science fiction and fantasy author, writing in Russian. His works often feature intense action-packed plots, ...
, ''Izvestiya
''Izvestia'' ( rus, Известия, p=ɪzˈvʲesʲtʲɪjə, "The News") is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Russia. Founded in 1917, it was a newspaper of record in the Soviet Union until the Soviet Union's dissolution in 1991, and describes i ...
'', May 26, 2010
A typical Russian popadanets is one of the three types: an everyman
The everyman is a stock character of fiction. An ordinary and humble character, the everyman is generally a protagonist whose benign conduct fosters the audience's identification with them.
Origin
The term ''everyman'' was used as early as ...
, a commando, or a reenactor, with all undergoing a social lift after travel. [
While a Russian popadanets used to be a male, since 2000s a flood of pulp fiction emerged featuring female ''popadanka'' hero, typically in the form of ]romance fiction
A romance novel or romantic novel generally refers to a type of genre fiction novel which places its primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and usually has an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Pre ...
, where popadanka becomes a mighty sorceress or becomes a bride of a mighty man: a king, a sorcerer, an elf, a vampire, etc., often via an “academy of magic”. The livelib.ru website featured 360 books about females landed in a magical world published in 2016, 422 in 2017, and 433 in 2018.[ Maria Galina, Ressentiment and post-traumatic syndrome in Russian post-Soviet speculative fiction: Two trends. In:The Post-Soviet Politics of Utopia : Language, Fiction and Fantasy in Modern Russia]
p.51
/ref>
Japanese ''isekai'' fiction
An extremely popular light novel
A light novel (, Hepburn: ''raito noberu'') is a style of young adult novel primarily targeting high school and middle school students. The term "light novel" is a '' wasei-eigo'', or a Japanese term formed from words in the English languag ...
and anime
is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...
genre known as ''isekai'' involves ordinary people suddenly becoming trapped in an alternate universe, often one based on fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...
. The alternate universe may also resemble, or literally be an MMO, such as in ''Sword Art Online
is a Japanese light novel series written by Reki Kawahara and illustrated by abec. The series takes place in the then-near future and focuses on protagonists Kazuto "Kirito" Kirigaya and Asuna Yuuki as they play through various vir ...
'', ''Log Horizon
is a Japanese novel series written by Mamare Touno and illustrated by Kazuhiro Hara. It began serialization online in 2010 on the user-generated novel publishing website Shōsetsuka ni Narō, being later on acquired by Enterbrain an ...
'' and '' Overlord''. While the characters may face mortal danger, the genre is typically characterized as a form of wish fulfillment
A wish is a hope or desire for something. In fiction, wishes can be used as plot devices. In folklore, opportunities for "making a wish" or for wishes to "come true" or "be granted" are themes that are sometimes used.
In fiction
In fiction a ...
, where the reader can imagine escaping their mundane life.
The concept has origins in ancient Japanese literature portal fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and drama. ...
, particularly the story of Urashima Tarō
is the protagonist of a Japanese fairy tale (''otogi banashi''), who in a typical modern version is a fisherman rewarded for rescuing a turtle, and carried on its back to the Dragon Palace (Ryūgū-jō) beneath the sea. There he is entertained ...
. It is about the fisherman Urashima Tarō, who saves a turtle and is brought to a wondrous undersea kingdom, but the story has a twist: after spending what he believed to be four to five days there, he returns to his home village only to find himself 300 years in the future. Other precursors to and extensions of modern ''isekai'' include stories from English literature, notably the novels ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creature ...
'' (1865), ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' is a children's novel written by author L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. It is the first novel in the Oz series of books. A Kansas farm girl named Dorothy ends up in the magical Land of Oz afte ...
'' (1900), ''Peter Pan
Peter Pan is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythi ...
'' (1904), and ''The Chronicles of Narnia
''The Chronicles of Narnia'' is a series of seven high fantasy novels by British author C. S. Lewis. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes and originally published between 1950 and 1956, ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' has been adapted for radio, tele ...
'' (1950).
See also
*Rip van Winkle
"Rip Van Winkle" is a short story by the American author Washington Irving, first published in 1819. It follows a Dutch-American villager in colonial America named Rip Van Winkle who meets mysterious Dutchmen, imbibes their liquor and falls aslee ...
, an archetypal story of a man who fell asleep and woke up in a different time many years later.
*Robinsonade
Robinsonade () is a literary genre that takes its name from the 1719 novel ''Robinson Crusoe'' by Daniel Defoe. The success of this novel spawned so many imitations that its name was used to define a genre, which is sometimes described simply ...
* Chuanyue
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Accidental travel
Science fiction themes
Fantasy tropes