| conceptual fiction |
| The Big Time by Fritz Leiber |
| Reviewed by Ted Gioia |
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The New Canon
Great literary works published
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Great Books Guide
Reviews of current books
Postmodern Mystery
Experimental works of mystery &
suspense
In a famous quip, dramatist Anton Chekhov claimed that if a
gun appears on the stage in Act One, it will be fired before the
conclusion of the play. But what if an atomic bomb shows up
in the drawing room at the beginning of the drama? Does it
blow up or get defused?
This is one of the many quandaries Fritz Leiber dumps on
his readers in his richly inventive novel The Big Time, winner
of the Hugo award for best novel in
1958. This compact narrative is the
place to start for those looking for an
introduction to Leiber’s sci-fi work,
which tends to be less well known
than his fantasy (Conjure Wife) or
adventure (Fafhrd and Gray Mouser)
writings. Leiber’s trademark virtues
—from the irrational exuberance of
his imagination to the fanciful humor
of his prose—pervade this odd tale
of time travelers on a rest and re-
creation break from the ardors of
changing past, present and future.
The reference to Ibsen above is not
inappropriate, since The Big Time
reads more like a play than a conventional novel. Leiber
observes the three unities—of time, place and action—that
Aristotle’s prescribed for drama. The story could be staged
with a single set and small cast. In temperament and tone, the
work is more akin to Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit or Thorton
Wilder’s The Skin of our Teeth, or even Samuel Beckett’s
Waiting for Godot than to your usual sci-fi tale. Existentialist
and absurdist elements appear from time and time, and
occasionally threaten to take over the story.
Related Stories
Fritz Leiber at 100
Conjure Wife by Fritz Leiber
Swords and Deviltry by Fritz Leiber
The Wanderer by Fritz Leiber
Although The Big Time is about time travel, the story itself
involves no chronological dislocation, and transpires over the
course of a few hours. The setting is The Place, where
soldiers in the Change War go for a break from the eternal
conflict. The troops are a fanciful amalgam, typical of Leiber’s
extravagance: this is a war in which every kind of soldier
from Roman gladiator to Nazi stormtrooper (and including
extraterrestrials) can figure as a combatant. Imagine the
bar scene in Star Wars, but with a dose of world history added
for good measure. At The Place, weary troops consort with
Entertainers who treat battle fatigue with booze, love-making
and piano music. Like any conscript, these off-duty soldiers
trade gripes, jests, challenges and dares.
During my graduate studies at Oxford I grappled with the
philosophy of time—a brain-numbing field full of arcane
concepts and conceits. A typical exam question was “Could
time run backward?” (The short answer is no—since the
very time it took for time to run backward would need to run
forward. Next question, please?) I wish I had read Leiber’s
The Big Time back then, since it would have given me some
ammunition with which to dazzle and confuse the professors.
Leiber draws on Hegel, Darwin, Newton and other sources in
constructing his own crazy quilt philosophy of time. Following
his line of thinking is akin to working through a labyrinth, for
example when the narrator tells us that “you can’t time travel
through the time you time travel in when you time travel.”
Elsewhere, Leiber postulates his Law of the Conservation of
Reality, which holds that time travelers who go back in history
to change the past will encounter enormous inertia and
resistance. Events will change, but by the least amount
necessary to accommodate the new inputs—hence anyone
who wants to transform history by a meaningful amount will
need to implement countless little changes in order to have a
significant impact.
In Leiber’s novel, two opposed forces—the Spiders and the
Snakes—are involved in just such a long-drawn-out conflict
to change the past, and hence the present and future. The
Spiders are on the side of the West, while the Snakes push
to advance the interests of the East. Their troops are recruited
from the full range of history, and their chosen battlefields are
equally expansive. Yet the identities of the Spider and Snake
leadership are uncertain, as are their motives. Our
protagonists work on the side of the Spiders in defense of
the West, but the soldiers are plagued with uncertainties and
doubts, feeling that at best they are, in Leiber’s words,
“defending bad against something worse.”
Despite the grand ambitions of the concepts involved, the plot
line in The Big Time is tautly constructed. A small group of
soldiers and entertainers participate in a heated debate over
their individual and collective futures. Some want to start a
mutiny, others are anxious to return to the battle as soon as
possible, still others hope to retire into the comforts of private
life—the allegiances and consensus shifting from page to
page. But to give their interactions a little more zing, Leiber
introduces an atomic bomb into the Place—a weapon
supposedly destined for introduction into the past in an
escalation of the Spider-versus-Snakes conflict. Wouldn't you
know that some wiseacre sets off the bomb with a 30-minute
delay? Perhaps with some teamwork the characters can
defuse the bomb, but this will require a fast resolution of the
multi-layered disagreements splintering the group.
There is much to enjoy about this novel. The premise is
intriguing, and offers a relatively new angle on the hoary time
travel trope. The characters are sharply drawn and their
interactions full of sudden changes and sly surprises. But I
especially like the dialogue, which veers from Shakespeare
to slang, frequently peppered with German and Latin, and full
of clever wordplay and bilingual puns. Those who think that
science fiction is all concepts, with no stylish prose, will need
to think again after reading this little gem. Yet, by the same
token, those who insist that sci-fi be stuffed full of thought-
provoking concepts will also find much to delight them in this
classic work.
gun appears on the stage in Act One, it will be fired before the
conclusion of the play. But what if an atomic bomb shows up
in the drawing room at the beginning of the drama? Does it
blow up or get defused?
This is one of the many quandaries Fritz Leiber dumps on
his readers in his richly inventive novel The Big Time, winner
of the Hugo award for best novel in
1958. This compact narrative is the
place to start for those looking for an
introduction to Leiber’s sci-fi work,
which tends to be less well known
than his fantasy (Conjure Wife) or
adventure (Fafhrd and Gray Mouser)
writings. Leiber’s trademark virtues
—from the irrational exuberance of
his imagination to the fanciful humor
of his prose—pervade this odd tale
of time travelers on a rest and re-
creation break from the ardors of
changing past, present and future.
The reference to Ibsen above is not
inappropriate, since The Big Time
reads more like a play than a conventional novel. Leiber
observes the three unities—of time, place and action—that
Aristotle’s prescribed for drama. The story could be staged
with a single set and small cast. In temperament and tone, the
work is more akin to Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit or Thorton
Wilder’s The Skin of our Teeth, or even Samuel Beckett’s
Waiting for Godot than to your usual sci-fi tale. Existentialist
and absurdist elements appear from time and time, and
occasionally threaten to take over the story.
Related Stories
Fritz Leiber at 100
Conjure Wife by Fritz Leiber
Swords and Deviltry by Fritz Leiber
The Wanderer by Fritz Leiber
Although The Big Time is about time travel, the story itself
involves no chronological dislocation, and transpires over the
course of a few hours. The setting is The Place, where
soldiers in the Change War go for a break from the eternal
conflict. The troops are a fanciful amalgam, typical of Leiber’s
extravagance: this is a war in which every kind of soldier
from Roman gladiator to Nazi stormtrooper (and including
extraterrestrials) can figure as a combatant. Imagine the
bar scene in Star Wars, but with a dose of world history added
for good measure. At The Place, weary troops consort with
Entertainers who treat battle fatigue with booze, love-making
and piano music. Like any conscript, these off-duty soldiers
trade gripes, jests, challenges and dares.
During my graduate studies at Oxford I grappled with the
philosophy of time—a brain-numbing field full of arcane
concepts and conceits. A typical exam question was “Could
time run backward?” (The short answer is no—since the
very time it took for time to run backward would need to run
forward. Next question, please?) I wish I had read Leiber’s
The Big Time back then, since it would have given me some
ammunition with which to dazzle and confuse the professors.
Leiber draws on Hegel, Darwin, Newton and other sources in
constructing his own crazy quilt philosophy of time. Following
his line of thinking is akin to working through a labyrinth, for
example when the narrator tells us that “you can’t time travel
through the time you time travel in when you time travel.”
Elsewhere, Leiber postulates his Law of the Conservation of
Reality, which holds that time travelers who go back in history
to change the past will encounter enormous inertia and
resistance. Events will change, but by the least amount
necessary to accommodate the new inputs—hence anyone
who wants to transform history by a meaningful amount will
need to implement countless little changes in order to have a
significant impact.
In Leiber’s novel, two opposed forces—the Spiders and the
Snakes—are involved in just such a long-drawn-out conflict
to change the past, and hence the present and future. The
Spiders are on the side of the West, while the Snakes push
to advance the interests of the East. Their troops are recruited
from the full range of history, and their chosen battlefields are
equally expansive. Yet the identities of the Spider and Snake
leadership are uncertain, as are their motives. Our
protagonists work on the side of the Spiders in defense of
the West, but the soldiers are plagued with uncertainties and
doubts, feeling that at best they are, in Leiber’s words,
“defending bad against something worse.”
Despite the grand ambitions of the concepts involved, the plot
line in The Big Time is tautly constructed. A small group of
soldiers and entertainers participate in a heated debate over
their individual and collective futures. Some want to start a
mutiny, others are anxious to return to the battle as soon as
possible, still others hope to retire into the comforts of private
life—the allegiances and consensus shifting from page to
page. But to give their interactions a little more zing, Leiber
introduces an atomic bomb into the Place—a weapon
supposedly destined for introduction into the past in an
escalation of the Spider-versus-Snakes conflict. Wouldn't you
know that some wiseacre sets off the bomb with a 30-minute
delay? Perhaps with some teamwork the characters can
defuse the bomb, but this will require a fast resolution of the
multi-layered disagreements splintering the group.
There is much to enjoy about this novel. The premise is
intriguing, and offers a relatively new angle on the hoary time
travel trope. The characters are sharply drawn and their
interactions full of sudden changes and sly surprises. But I
especially like the dialogue, which veers from Shakespeare
to slang, frequently peppered with German and Latin, and full
of clever wordplay and bilingual puns. Those who think that
science fiction is all concepts, with no stylish prose, will need
to think again after reading this little gem. Yet, by the same
token, those who insist that sci-fi be stuffed full of thought-
provoking concepts will also find much to delight them in this
classic work.
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Conceptual Fiction:
A Reading List
(with links to reviews)
Home Page
Abbott, Edwin A.
Flatland
Adams, Douglas
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Allende, Isabel
The House of the Spirits
Amado, Jorge
Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands
Amis, Martin
Time's Arrow
Apuleius
The Golden Ass
Asimov, Isaac
The Foundation Trilogy
Asimov, Isaac
I, Robot
Atwood, Margaret
The Handmaid's Tale
Banks, Iain M.
The State of the Art
Ballard, J.G.
Crash
Ballard, J.G.
The Crystal World
Bester, Alfred
The Demolished Man
Borges, Jorge Luis
Ficciones
Bradbury, Ray
Dandelion Wine
Bradbury, Ray
Fahrenheit 451
Bradbury, Ray
The Illustrated Man
Bradbury, Ray
The Martian Chronicles
Bradbury, Ray
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Brockmeier, Kevin
The View from the Seventh Layer
Bulgakov, Mikhail
The Master and Margarita
Burgess, Anthony
A Clockwork Orange
Card, Orson Scott
Ender's Game
Carpentier, Alejo
The Kingdom of This World
Carroll, Lewis
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Chabon, Michael
The Yiddish Policemen's Union
Chiang, Ted
Stories of Your Life and Others
Clarke, Arthur C.
Childhood's End
Clarke, Arthur C.
A Fall of Moondust
Clarke, Arthur C.
2001: A Space Odyssey
Clarke, Susanna
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Crowley, John
Little, Big
Danielewski, Mark Z.
The Fifty Year Sword
Danielewski, Mark Z.
House of Leaves
Davies, Robertson
Fifth Business
Delany, Samuel R.
Babel-17
Delany, Samuel R.
Dhalgren
Delany, Samuel R.
The Einstein Intersection
Dick, Philip K.
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
Dick, Philip K.
The Man in the High Castle
Dick, Philip K.
Ubik
Doctorow, Cory
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
Donoso, José
The Obscene Bird of Night
Esquivel, Laura
Like Water for Chocolate
Fuentes, Carlos
Aura
Gaiman, Neil
American Gods
Gaiman, Neil
Neverwhere
Gibson, William
Burning Chrome
Gibson, William
Neuromancer
Grass, Günter
The Tin Drum
Greene, Graham
The End of the Affair
Grossman, Lev
The Magicians
Haldeman, Joe
The Forever War
Hall, Steven
The Raw Shark Texts
Harrison, M. John
Light
Heinlein, Robert
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Heinlein, Robert:
Stranger in a Strange Land
Heinlein, Robert
Time Enough for Love
Helprin, Mark
Winter's Tale
Herbert, Frank
Dune
Hoffman, Alice
Practical Magic
Huxley, Aldous
Brave New World
Keret, Etgar
Suddenly, A Knock at the Door
Kundera, Milan
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
Kunzru, Hari
Gods Without Men
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Lathe of Heaven
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Left Hand of Darkness
Leiber, Fritz
The Big Time
Leiber, Fritz
Conjure Wife
Leiber, Fritz
Swords & Deviltry
Leiber, Fritz
The Wanderer
Lem, Stanislaw
His Master's Voice
Lem, Stanislaw
Solaris
Lethem, Jonathan
The Fortress of Solitude
Lewis, C. S.
The Chronicles of Narnia
Link, Kelly
Magic for Beginners
Mann, Thomas
Doctor Faustus
Márquez, Gabriel García
100 Years of Solitude
Matheson, Richard
What Dreams May Come
McCarthy, Cormac
The Road
Miéville, China
Perdido Street Station
Miller, Jr., Walter M.
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Millhauser, Steven
Dangerous Laughter
Mitchell, David
Cloud Atlas
Morrison, Toni
Beloved
Murakami, Haruki
1Q84
Murakami, Haruki
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the
End of the World
Niffenegger, Audrey
The Time Traveler's Wife
Niven, Larry
Ringworld
Noon, Jeff
Vurt
Obreht, Téa
The Tiger's Wife
O'Brien, Flann
At Swim-Two-Birds
Okri, Ben
The Famished Road
Pohl, Frederik
Gateway
Pratchett, Terry
The Color of Magic
Pynchon, Thomas
Gravity's Rainbow
Rabelais, François
Gargantua and Pantagruel
Robinson, Kim Stanley
Red Mars
Rowling, J.K.
Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone
Rushdie, Salman
Midnight's Children
Saramago, José
Blindness
Shelley, Mary
Frankenstein
Silverberg, Robert
Dying Inside
Silverberg, Robert
Nightwings
Simak, Clifford
City
Simak, Clifford
The Trouble with Tycho
Smith, Cordwainer
Norstrilia
Smith, Cordwainer
The Rediscovery of Man
Stephenson, Neal
Snow Crash
Stross, Charles
Glasshouse
Sturgeon, Theodore
More Than Human
Sturgeon, Theodore
Some of Your Blood
Swift, Jonathan
Gulliver's Travels
Thomas, D.M.
The White Hotel
Tolkien, J.R.R.
The Hobbit
Updike, John
The Witches of Eastwick
Van Vogt, A.E.
The Mixed Men
Van Vogt, A.E.
Slan
Van Vogt, A.E.
The Voyage of the Space Beagle
Van Vogt, A.E.
The World of Null A
Verne, Jules
Around the Moon
Verne, Jules
From the Earth to the Moon
Verne, Jules:
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Vonnegut, Kurt
Cat's Cradle
Vonnegut, Kurt
The Sirens of Titan
Vonnegut, Kurt
Slaughterhouse-Five
Wallace, David Foster
Infinite Jest
Walpole, Horace
Hieroglyphic Tales
Wells, H.G.
The First Men in the Moon
Wells, H.G.
The Island of Dr. Moreau
Wells, H.G.
The Time Machine
Winton, Tim
Cloudstreet
Woolf, Virginia
Orlando
Zabor, Rafi
The Bear Comes Home
Zelazny, Roger
Lord of Light
Special Features
Notes on Conceptual Fiction
Ray Bradbury: A Tribute
The Year of Magical Reading
Remembering Fritz Leiber
Samuel Delany's 70th birthday
The Sci-Fi of Kurt Vonnegut
Curse You, Neil Armstrong!
Robert Heinlein at 100
A.E, van Vogt Tribute
Links to related sites
The New Canon
Great Books Guide
Postmodern Mystery
Ted Gioia's web site
SF Site
io9
Graeme's Fantasy Book Review
Los Angeles Review of Books
Big Dumb Object
Jospeh Peschel
The Misread City
Reviews and Responses
SF Signal
True Science Fiction
Disclosure: Conceptual Fiction and
its sister sites may receive review
copies and promotional materials
from publishers, authors, publicists
or other parties.
www.twitter.com/tedgioia
Conceptual Fiction:
A Reading List
(with links to reviews)
Home Page
Abbott, Edwin A.
Flatland
Adams, Douglas
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Allende, Isabel
The House of the Spirits
Amado, Jorge
Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands
Amis, Martin
Time's Arrow
Apuleius
The Golden Ass
Asimov, Isaac
The Foundation Trilogy
Asimov, Isaac
I, Robot
Atwood, Margaret
The Handmaid's Tale
Banks, Iain M.
The State of the Art
Ballard, J.G.
Crash
Ballard, J.G.
The Crystal World
Bester, Alfred
The Demolished Man
Borges, Jorge Luis
Ficciones
Bradbury, Ray
Dandelion Wine
Bradbury, Ray
Fahrenheit 451
Bradbury, Ray
The Illustrated Man
Bradbury, Ray
The Martian Chronicles
Bradbury, Ray
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Brockmeier, Kevin
The View from the Seventh Layer
Bulgakov, Mikhail
The Master and Margarita
Burgess, Anthony
A Clockwork Orange
Card, Orson Scott
Ender's Game
Carpentier, Alejo
The Kingdom of This World
Carroll, Lewis
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Chabon, Michael
The Yiddish Policemen's Union
Chiang, Ted
Stories of Your Life and Others
Clarke, Arthur C.
Childhood's End
Clarke, Arthur C.
A Fall of Moondust
Clarke, Arthur C.
2001: A Space Odyssey
Clarke, Susanna
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Crowley, John
Little, Big
Danielewski, Mark Z.
The Fifty Year Sword
Danielewski, Mark Z.
House of Leaves
Davies, Robertson
Fifth Business
Delany, Samuel R.
Babel-17
Delany, Samuel R.
Dhalgren
Delany, Samuel R.
The Einstein Intersection
Dick, Philip K.
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
Dick, Philip K.
The Man in the High Castle
Dick, Philip K.
Ubik
Doctorow, Cory
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
Donoso, José
The Obscene Bird of Night
Esquivel, Laura
Like Water for Chocolate
Fuentes, Carlos
Aura
Gaiman, Neil
American Gods
Gaiman, Neil
Neverwhere
Gibson, William
Burning Chrome
Gibson, William
Neuromancer
Grass, Günter
The Tin Drum
Greene, Graham
The End of the Affair
Grossman, Lev
The Magicians
Haldeman, Joe
The Forever War
Hall, Steven
The Raw Shark Texts
Harrison, M. John
Light
Heinlein, Robert
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Heinlein, Robert:
Stranger in a Strange Land
Heinlein, Robert
Time Enough for Love
Helprin, Mark
Winter's Tale
Herbert, Frank
Dune
Hoffman, Alice
Practical Magic
Huxley, Aldous
Brave New World
Keret, Etgar
Suddenly, A Knock at the Door
Kundera, Milan
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
Kunzru, Hari
Gods Without Men
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Lathe of Heaven
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Left Hand of Darkness
Leiber, Fritz
The Big Time
Leiber, Fritz
Conjure Wife
Leiber, Fritz
Swords & Deviltry
Leiber, Fritz
The Wanderer
Lem, Stanislaw
His Master's Voice
Lem, Stanislaw
Solaris
Lethem, Jonathan
The Fortress of Solitude
Lewis, C. S.
The Chronicles of Narnia
Link, Kelly
Magic for Beginners
Mann, Thomas
Doctor Faustus
Márquez, Gabriel García
100 Years of Solitude
Matheson, Richard
What Dreams May Come
McCarthy, Cormac
The Road
Miéville, China
Perdido Street Station
Miller, Jr., Walter M.
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Millhauser, Steven
Dangerous Laughter
Mitchell, David
Cloud Atlas
Morrison, Toni
Beloved
Murakami, Haruki
1Q84
Murakami, Haruki
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the
End of the World
Niffenegger, Audrey
The Time Traveler's Wife
Niven, Larry
Ringworld
Noon, Jeff
Vurt
Obreht, Téa
The Tiger's Wife
O'Brien, Flann
At Swim-Two-Birds
Okri, Ben
The Famished Road
Pohl, Frederik
Gateway
Pratchett, Terry
The Color of Magic
Pynchon, Thomas
Gravity's Rainbow
Rabelais, François
Gargantua and Pantagruel
Robinson, Kim Stanley
Red Mars
Rowling, J.K.
Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone
Rushdie, Salman
Midnight's Children
Saramago, José
Blindness
Shelley, Mary
Frankenstein
Silverberg, Robert
Dying Inside
Silverberg, Robert
Nightwings
Simak, Clifford
City
Simak, Clifford
The Trouble with Tycho
Smith, Cordwainer
Norstrilia
Smith, Cordwainer
The Rediscovery of Man
Stephenson, Neal
Snow Crash
Stross, Charles
Glasshouse
Sturgeon, Theodore
More Than Human
Sturgeon, Theodore
Some of Your Blood
Swift, Jonathan
Gulliver's Travels
Thomas, D.M.
The White Hotel
Tolkien, J.R.R.
The Hobbit
Updike, John
The Witches of Eastwick
Van Vogt, A.E.
The Mixed Men
Van Vogt, A.E.
Slan
Van Vogt, A.E.
The Voyage of the Space Beagle
Van Vogt, A.E.
The World of Null A
Verne, Jules
Around the Moon
Verne, Jules
From the Earth to the Moon
Verne, Jules:
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Vonnegut, Kurt
Cat's Cradle
Vonnegut, Kurt
The Sirens of Titan
Vonnegut, Kurt
Slaughterhouse-Five
Wallace, David Foster
Infinite Jest
Walpole, Horace
Hieroglyphic Tales
Wells, H.G.
The First Men in the Moon
Wells, H.G.
The Island of Dr. Moreau
Wells, H.G.
The Time Machine
Winton, Tim
Cloudstreet
Woolf, Virginia
Orlando
Zabor, Rafi
The Bear Comes Home
Zelazny, Roger
Lord of Light
Special Features
Notes on Conceptual Fiction
Ray Bradbury: A Tribute
The Year of Magical Reading
Remembering Fritz Leiber
Samuel Delany's 70th birthday
The Sci-Fi of Kurt Vonnegut
Curse You, Neil Armstrong!
Robert Heinlein at 100
A.E, van Vogt Tribute
Links to related sites
The New Canon
Great Books Guide
Postmodern Mystery
Ted Gioia's web site
SF Site
io9
Graeme's Fantasy Book Review
Los Angeles Review of Books
Big Dumb Object
Jospeh Peschel
The Misread City
Reviews and Responses
SF Signal
True Science Fiction
Disclosure: Conceptual Fiction and
its sister sites may receive review
copies and promotional materials
from publishers, authors, publicists
or other parties.