[FairfieldLife] RE: Enoch Soames - the time traveller

[s3raphita]

[FairfieldLife] RE: Enoch Soames - the time traveller

[s3raphita]

[FairfieldLife] Re: Enoch Soames - the time traveller

[turquoiseb]

Excellent find, excellent writeup. I heartily recommend reading Teller's
original tale in the Atlantic. Whatever it was, whoever staged it (and,
of course, it could be Teller himself, as he is wont to do such things),
it was a class act.

http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/97nov/teller.htm




s3raphita wrote:

A few days ago I read a time-travel story by Max Beerbohm called Enoch
Soames.  Beerbohm was a leading light during the decadent period in
England in  the 1890s - a friend of Oscar Wilde and a contributor to The
Yellow Book.  The story includes a lot of true details about Beerbohm's
own past and  is presented as a factual account of what actually
happened. Beerbohm is  the successful essayist. He then relates the
tragic history of a friend  named Enoch Soames - an obscure poet. His
appearance is described as "vague" and he always wears a waterproof cape
and soft black hat.

One  day Soames and Beerbohm are having lunch in a restaurant. Soames is
depressed; obsessively curious about his "certain" fate of posthumous 
fame. Desperate for assurance of the eventual recognition of his 
talent, Soames agrees to a contract offered by the Devil. In exchange 
for the future possession of his soul, Soames will be transported 
exactly 100 years forward in time; to spend one afternoon (from 2:10 PM 
to 7 PM) in the Reading Room of the British Museum searching the
catalogues to discover what judgement posterity has made on his works.

After the agreement is made, Soames vanishes. Later he reappears in the
restaurant at 7pm, where Beerbohm has returned to meet him.

A  devastated Soames tells Beerbohm that the only mention he could find
of  himself was in a single scholarly article. Then the Devil turns up
to  claim his soul.

The  story was so witty and cleverly constructed (avoiding the paradoxes
that time travel tales can involve) that it made a big impression on me.
Now, here's the thing: Soames was transported forward to the British 
Museum Reading Room on 3 June 1997. So thought I: Damn it! I wish I'd 
read this before the 1997 date and then I would have gone to the Reading
Room on that day to see if Enoch Soames turned up! What a lark that 
would have been. But, too late, alas.

And  then I asked myself: surely the story must have made a similar 
impression on others before me; others who perhaps DID turn up on the 
magic date. I Googled a few key words. And what name should turn up but 
"Teller" - the silent one of Penn & Teller fame! Turns out he'd been 
bowled over by the tale also and he flew over from the States to be at 
the museum on the designated date. Once in the Reading Room, Teller met
a  few others also expectantly awaiting Soames's arrival. And what 
happened at 2.10pm? Well Enoch Soames walked in, of course!

In  Teller's own words: "The wide-brimmed beaver hat is threadbare. The 
cape is mud-stained. The man under the cape appears to be in his late 
twenties, with a large head, long neck, and sloping shoulders. He is 
pale save for scattered inflammations on his skin, and his mouse-brown 
hair droops down his neck. To his chin and his upper lip clings thin, 
lusterless fuzz. His eyes are wide-set, hooded, and sad. He  goes
directly to the catalogue and gazes for a long time at the gap  where
the SNOOD volume belongs. He pulls out the volume to the left and  looks
through it, puzzled. Then he notices SNOOD lying open on top of  the
bookcase and leafs through it . . . " And so on.

What  a hoot! Of course, there are those sceptics who maintain that the
young  man was just an actor. There are those cynics who maintain that
Teller  himself arranged the whole show. But if so, then "Bravo Teller!"
say I.  I've been chuckling about this ever since I read Teller's
account which can be found here:
http://www.theatlantic.com/ past/docs/issues/97nov/teller. htm




Curiously, the Reading Room of the British Museum, though still open in
June 1997, was finally closed later that year and its functions
transferred to the British Library.