11 h 29 minAudiobook4 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if you could fly backward through time, only to find history louder and stranger than you ever imagined?
In Enrique Gaspar’s The Anacronopete, inventor Don Sindulfo García builds a vessel that flies backward through time. With a crew aboard, the machine carries its travelers into earlier ages. But the past is no quiet place to visit. It is crowded, noisy and full of surprises that unsettle familiar ideas about history.
This Spanish novel from 1887 brings early science fiction together with humour and satire. Gaspar treats his invention as a vessel with a purpose, then lets the journey challenge the tidy past of school books. His wider view, shaped by his work as a diplomat and time in China, colors this quick, light adventure.
What you’ll discover
- A vessel against time Step aboard Don Sindulfo García’s invention and follow a crew into earlier ages.
- History beyond school books Encounter a past that feels crowded, strange and far from the orderly version you expect.
- Adventure with a smile Enjoy a comic journey that pairs its backward flight with a sharp look at history.
- A wider world Explore a story colored by Gaspar’s diplomatic life and his time in China.
- Early science fiction Discover how a Spanish novelist imagines time travel through a named machine and its crew.
Who will love it
For readers who love early science fiction, Spanish literature and satire, or who enjoy discovering how time travel first took shape in stories.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A machine built to fly against time
- The past is not what you expect
- Spain, China and a wider world
- Why it still matters to readers
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The Anacronopete
by Enrique Gaspar · 1887
Don Sindulfo García builds a vessel to fly backward through time, carrying travelers into history's chaos.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 4
A machine built to fly against time
The center of the book is its invention. Gaspar gives the idea a name, the anacronopete, and treats it as a real vessel with a crew and a purpose. The machine does not carry people forward into a bright future. It carries them back into the past, and that choice shapes the whole story.
Gaspar was a man of the theater, and he builds the idea the way a playwright builds a stage. He gives his readers a clear premise, then lets people and situations collide. The science is playful rather than exact. The aim is to set up a world where the usual rules of history can be visited, not to teach physics.
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What is The Anacronopete about?
It is a Spanish comic adventure about an inventor who builds a vessel that travels backward in time. The crew visits earlier ages and meets history as a lively, confusing place rather than a tidy lesson.
Is The Anacronopete the first time travel novel?
It is often called one of the first stories about a built time machine. It came out in 1887, before The Time Machine by H. G. Wells in 1895, though earlier tales used dreams or sleep.
What does the word anacronopete mean?
It is a coined word built from Greek roots, and it means roughly one who flies against time. It names the vessel at the heart of the story.
The author
Enrique Gaspar
1842–1902 · Spanish playwright and novelist
Enrique Gaspar y Rimbau was a Spanish writer and diplomat. He was born in Madrid in 1842 and died in Oloron, France, in 1902. He wrote plays and novels. His novel El anacronópete was published in 1887. His diplomatic work took him to China and France.
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