Time slip
{{short description|Plot device in fiction where a character changes time periods}}
{{about|the fiction genre and plot device in fiction||timeslip (disambiguation)}}
A time slip is a plot device in fantasy and science fiction in which a person, or group of people, seem to accidentally travel through time by unknown means, or by a means unknown to the character(s).Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction Literature, "Timeslip romance", [https://books.google.com/books?id=nzmIPZg5xicC&pg=PA357 p. 357]{{cite web |title=Timeslip romance |last=Anders |first=Charlie Jane |work=io9 |date=12 June 2009 |access-date=27 August 2015 |url=http://io9.com/tag/timeslip-romance}}{{cite book |last=Palmer |first=Christopher |title=Philip K. Dick: Exhilaration and Terror of the Postmodern |date=2007 |publisher=Liverpool University Press |location=Liverpool |isbn=978-0-853236184 |page=146 |edition=Reprint |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fsaGaFoH8UYC&pg=PA146 |access-date=11 February 2017}}{{Cite book |last=Kincaid |first=Paul |title=The Greenwood encyclopedia of science fiction and fantasy: themes, works, and wonders |last2=Gaiman |first2=Neil |date=2005 |publisher=Greenwood press |isbn=978-0-313-32950-0 |editor-last=Gary Wesley |editor-first=Westfahl |volume=2 |location=Westport |pages=823-825 |chapter=Timeslips}}{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2018 |title=Timeslip |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction |url=https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/timeslip |access-date=2025-03-06 |last=David |first=Langford |author1-link=David Langford |editor1-last=Clute |editor1-first=John |edition=4th |last2=Clements |first2=Jonathan |author1-last= |author1-first= |editor1-link=John Clute |editor2-last=Langford |editor2-first=David |editor2-link=David Langford |editor3-last=Sleight |editor3-first=Graham |editor3-link=Graham Sleight}}
Time slip is one of the main plot devices of time travel stories, another being a time machine. The difference is that in time slip stories, the protagonist typically has no control and no understanding of the process (which is often never explained at all) and is either left marooned in a past or future time and must make the best of it, or is eventually returned by a process as unpredictable and uncontrolled as the journey out.{{cite book |last=Schweitzer |first=Darrell |title=The Fantastic Horizon: Essays and Reviews |date=2009 |publisher=Borgo Press |location=Rockville, Maryland |isbn=9781434403209 |page=112 |edition=1st |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HG-vjhQqE_cC&pg=PA112 |access-date=22 September 2017}} An advantage of time slip is that the author may proceed directly to the adventure without much explanations.{{cite web|url=http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/timeslip|title=Timeslip|website=The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction}}
The idea of a time slip was used in 19th century fantasy, an early example being Washington Irving's 1819 Rip Van Winkle, where the mechanism of time travel is an extraordinarily long sleep.{{cite web |last=Lee |first=Maggie |title=Film Review: 'A Bride for Rip Van Winkle' |url=https://variety.com/2016/film/reviews/a-bride-for-rip-van-winkle-film-review-1201739913/ |website=Variety |access-date=30 April 2021 |date=12 April 2016}} Time-slip stories were popularized at the end of the century by Mark Twain's 1889 historical novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, which had considerable influence on later writers.{{cite book |last1=James |first1=Edward |last2=Mendlesohn |first2=Farah |title=The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature |date=2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=9781107493735 |page=106 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zWzlAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA106 |access-date=11 February 2017}}
Paleontologist George Gaylord Simpson wrote a novella, published posthumously, The Dechronization of Sam Magruder, about a scientist who experiences a time slip from 2162 back into the Cretaceous Period. In this case, the time slip is accidental, but the protagonist understands the mechanism, which came about due to his experiments into the quantum nature of time.
The plot device is also popular in children's literature.{{cite book |last=Lucas |first=Ann Lawson |title=The Presence of the Past in Children's Literature |date=2003 |publisher=Praeger |location=Westport, Connecticut |isbn=978-0-313324833 |page=113 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3mBA_EHrxvEC&pg=PA153}}{{cite journal |last1=Cosslett |first1=Tess |title="History from Below": Time-Slip Narratives and National Identity |journal=The Lion and the Unicorn |date=1 April 2002 |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=243–253 |doi=10.1353/uni.2002.0017 |s2cid=145407419 |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/35545/pdf |access-date=22 September 2017 |issn=1080-6563}}