Mists of time is a Romance of Science-fiction, written in 1968 by the writer French Rene Barjavel.

Complete summary

A research team stationed in the Antarctic discovers with one great depth the remainders of an extinct civilization since 900  000 years. Against any waiting, this civilization was scientifically more advanced than are we it today.

The researchers discover two bodies buried in a underground shelter, under the layer of ice… A man and a woman. Barjavel weaves the bases of a history of love and this fabulous lost civilization takes it as discussion thread to describe us…

The history is also that of a intertemporal Romeo and Juliette revisited by the science fiction of the author.

One of the characters important is Simon. Eléa is also important.

Description of an ideal world

Rene Barjavel describes us a world " idéal" where the men live in happiness and abundance, benefitting from an energy source and unlimited matter which enables them to counter all their needs. Nevertheless, one finds in this work of the elements which make it possible to establish parallels with novels of Against-Utopia such as the war with another nation as in the 1984 of George Orwell or, more outstanding, the jewels carried by each one which allow the management of the individuals as in an insupportable happiness of Ira Levin.

Characters

There are two quite distinct groups characters in " The Night of Temps" : characters of passed and those of the present. Besides the chapters separate the last events and the events present although the two main characters pass sometimes from the one to the other.

characters of the last one: They were " idéalisés" by Barjavel. It gave them the perfection which we hope to reach in a few centuries and has, so given a direction very particular to its book. It separated them in two clans, the " bons" and " mauvais". Gondawa, which was with the current site of the south pole (this place of planet was livable because, according to the novel, the planet was leaning of 40 degrees more compared to its current location) and Enisoraï, of which a part completely disappeared from surface from the ground. Enisorai was located at the current site of two Americas. Following the desperate use of " the Solaire" Weapon; by Gondawa during the war which opposed the two continents, this part of ground melted then was absorbed by the Oceans. The very whole planet was shaken and shifted of 40 degrees. Among the characters of passed of Gondawa, it there three characters - keys important: Eléa, Païkan and Coban. Enisoraï does not have a clean character, the entire continent represents brutality, the need for conquest, the unlimited expansion.

Eléa: It represents the love and innocence. Eléa had been selected as being one of the most perfect women of Gondawa and was selected to enter the Shelter, left capsule of survival which was to make it possible two people to survive the Solar Weapon. Before that, Eléa was plain with Païkan, its " heart-sœur" and they liked of a pure love and inébranlable. Only, the person who was to accompany it in the Shelter was not Païkan but Coban because only knew all these things to him which had to be preserved at all costs. It was found in " the œuf" in spite of it and awoke nine hundred and thousand years later, in a world where all was different and where Païkan did not exist any more…

Païkan: It is the character " absent" present and yet it has a great presence thanks to the love that Eléa still carries to him. It tried by all means to save Shelter but, when he understood that it was finally the single means of saving it, he persuaded it to enter l'" oeuf". At did the time of the entry in action of the Solar Weapon, Païkan dispute with Coban, killed it (by accident?) and itself entered " the œuf". However, Païkan had serious wounds, it could awake and survive only if Eléa brought its assistance to him. But it was Eléa which awoke in first and she was unaware of that the person accompanying it was not Coban…

Coban: It represents the knowledge and wisdom. It is the director of the university, more recognized researchers of Gondawa. Wanting to protect, not its people, but the life in general, it made build a capsule of surprotégée survival (the Shelter) and there introduced all the knowledge of Gondawa. 5 women and 5 men were selected for their physical and mental qualities to enter the shelter, but only a couple among these 10 individuals would enter the shelter. Coban was the n°1. Eléa, n°3, were chosen by a play of the fate (the n°1 died and the n°2 fell pregnant). Whereas it was already in " sleep froid" , Coban was made kill by Païkan and it was this one which took its place in " the œuf".

characters of the present: Contrary to the symbolic system used for the characters of the past, Barjavel paid great attention to gather all the nations for the characters of the present. He thus wanted certainly to speak d'" humanité" and not of nation or race. Of course, the history has its hero, who is French, but it is its heart which is proposed and the heart is the same one at all the men. By choosing Simon like " héros" , Barjavel chose very whole humanity rather than only one person.

Simon: He represents loneliness and despair. It is one of the first to being entered l'" œuf" and to have posed the eyes on Eléa. He was doctor and had been sent to the South pole, on a French basis of research. He falls in love with Eléa at the time when he poses the eyes on it. Even if it knows that Eléa will never love anybody other that Païkan, Simon dedicates a love without limits to him and will protect it from those which do not include/understand it. Eléa chooses it as being the person in whom it can have confidence. The relation of the two characters will reach the dimensions unexpected, but always limited by the love that Eléa carries for Païkan.

Nations of the World/Humanity: Besides the other characters form a whole, separate from/to each other, they do not have more any personality (contrary to Simon). Their presence is essential to the history but neither their name, nor their personality has any importance since it is their nationality which imports more. Each one comes from a different country and it is what that they form a whole. And even when one of the countries steals the Equation of Zoran, Barjavel paid attention not to indicate any country, so that finally all the countries were guilty. While writing its book thus, it made all the nations confused responsible and, in this manner, indicated the human silly thing like single person in charge. Certain characters make a very short appearance in the book, which is used for symbolized the presence of the country. The name of the character then appears accompanied by a comma and its country (ex: " Henckel, the German leva"). Certain characters remain throughout the history and take a considerable place even if separated from the others, they would not have more any importance: Hoover: ThePlain ones, Léonova: The Russia, Hoï-To: The Japan, Lukos: The Turkey, Lebeau, Brivaux and Rochefoux: The France, Moïssov: The Siberia. (A little story of love links Léonova and Hoover but it is once more a symbol. An alliance enters the capitalist America and the communist Russia, an alliance between the two continents perpetually in war, plain to save Eléa and Coban.)

the Translator: It is only one machine but it has a great importance. Each character carries to his ear a micro receiver connected to the aforementioned machine, which translates into seventeen languages what people say. She even arrives, at the end of many efforts, to translate the language of Eléa. When it breaks down, all the importance then is included/understood that it has in the book.

Structure of Work

The book was written according to three plans: the speeches of Simon, which appear in italic and are out of the temporal context of the novel, the account of discovered Shelter and all research being in the present and, to finish, the account-memory of last of Eléa in all its intimacy with Païkan and of the dramatic end of Gondawa. One can see that these three parts are also accompanied by their topics, namely loneliness and the insane love for the speeches of Simon, happiness in love for the past with Eléa and the madness of the men through their scientific knowledge for the account of the present. The book starts with a speech of Simon who informs already about the end of the account, one knows in advance that it is tragic. In fact then the accounts of the present start, whose each discovery or important moment is marked by a speech of Simon. About the middle of the book, one rocks in the past and the important moments are always marked by the speeches of Simon. The fine tragedy of Gondawa and the death of Eléa mark the end of the adventure, however the book continuous while returning in the present and by describing the death of both " fossiles" past, the escape of the researchers and the explosion of all the base. This to mark the rupture total between Simon and his lost love, left with the account the end of Gondawa, buried under tons of ice. The book is not finished by a speech of Simon but by an outline of the impressions of people in the streets. The history of Simon, it, ends before the history does not finish, it stops as of the first lines of the book. When the book is finished, Simon already died for a long time, his heart, his heart, it does not remain to him more that its body but that is not enough for him any more to live. To start with a speech tragic and despaired of Simon and to finish the book without him mark although for him, there is no life after Eléa. One already feels it as of the second page of the book: " I shiver. Never, never more I will not be hot in my blood and my flesh… " *. The chapters do not have a number and are very short (never more than eight pages), which causes very frequent pauses, underlined more by the speeches of Simon. That gives the impression of " survoler" history, to be taken for witness and not for reader.

Narrative authority

Barjavel delivers to us in " the Night of Temps" a rather complex narration since it passes from one style to the other. Indeed, when it is of the accounts of last or the present, the narrator is outside the history and uses the third nobody. He speaks to us about all the characters but reveals us the thoughts only few protagonists (Eléa, Paikan, Coban, Simon and some researchers). The narrator is neutral compared to the history although one feels a light lassitude vis-a-vis the human reactions. When they are the speeches of Simon, the narrator rocks inside the history, uses the first nobody and becomes thus Doctor Simon. It is as if the narrator delivered letters to us that Simon would have written for Eléa all while keeping them for him even because it is very clear that the narrator external with the history cannot be Simon. Each one of these speeches, only marked for itself and where no other character intervenes, are directed towards Eléa. And in each one of these speeches one feels, in an increasing way, at which point its love for it is immense and painful. The narrator is not neutral any more, it is unable to remain impartial. Thus, the narration passes from the one to the other with subtlety, the speech with the first nobody being essential for better including/understanding the pain of Simon, the speech with the essential third nobody to include/understand the love of Eléa and Païkan. While passing from the one with the other in this manner, Barjavel made a success of the bet difficult to make stick the reader to the distress of Simon but also to the tender love of Eléa and Païkan so that it is impossible to the reader to give reason to the one of these three people. One includes/understands thus, all the ambiguity of the situation.

Set of themes

There is a central theme in " the Night of Temps" , it is about the love. It is primarily around this main theme that all the history turns. One can also find a second topic, which has a direct relationship with the love: loneliness. The last of the three topics is detached from the two first since it is this time about humanity, or, more precisely, from the human silly thing.

the love : It is the central theme of the book. Love between Païkan and Eléa, love of Simon for Eléa, the Designation (ceremony which indicate, in Gondawa, the soul mate of each person) and even the love which finally the researchers with very whole humanity at the end of the book test. Eléa carries in Païkan an infinite love, a pure love which crosses the ages and of which it cannot be demolished. Simon, also, likes to him Eléa of this same love. Impossible love of Simon, prisoner of the present, for Eléa, itself captive of the past. One can associate with the Eléa-Païkan couple the myth of Sleeping Beauty, moderated by the fact that there is no prince charming with the alarm clock. One can also associate with it that of Tristan and Iseult, i.e., the myth of a love which death itself cannot destroy. Vis-a-vis them draw up two important characters: Coban, decided at all costs to save the humanity and which separates them time from a long hibernation, but also Simon, disillusioned by the men, insane in love with Eléa and which points out Païkan tragically to him. Following the example Eléa, it is him which will join together them and which will finally let them die, hand in the hand, thus sacrificing the feeling of love that it will be able to test never again.

loneliness : Of course, this topic appears in a recurring way since Eléa is only found, 900.000 years after all that she had known and all that she liked, but also because Simon knows in advance that its love for Eléa will be never possible. If the love is the main theme of Eléa, loneliness is for Simon. Throughout the book, Simon " témoigne" , by short texts, written in italics and whose remarks are out of the time of the novel. The narrator of the " il" becomes a narrator of the " then; je" for some lines. One knows as of the beginning of these first texts that Simon likes as it is not allowed to like and one includes/understands, at the end of the novel, than ever more it will not like. Each one of its remarks is marked by a deep loneliness and a key of despair. The most outstanding passage of loneliness and pain is this one: " You included/understood me… Me also, me also, my love, I had included/understood, I knew… You were in Païkan… ". This sentence, although except context, translated all the loneliness and the pain which transpierce Simon. What also emphasizes Simon of the other characters apart from the fact that it is interested in Eléa before worrying about the Equation about Zoran, (mathematical translation of all the knowledge of Gondawa), it is precisely this loneliness. In spite of its love for Eléa, in spite of the fact that it wishes it and that it would like that Païkan existed never, it is him, and him only, which includes/understands it better than whoever, which reinforces even more its loneliness.

the silly thing/human madness : Even if it is a topic which is in background, it is very present. It is the madness of the men which destroyed a civilization as advanced as Gondawa, going even until burning the surface of all planet and to shift it of 40 degrees! And it is it, again, which puts in danger all the knowledge contained in the Shelter. If no country and no character were particularly proposed for the flight of this knowledge (containing the Equation of Zoran in particular), it is precisely so that the madness of the men, and thus the very whole planet is, once more, the culprit. If each country is joined together in the EAR (International Polar Forwarding, having led to discovered Shelter), around research on Eléa, it is not either a chance. Even if humanity held the solution at the end of all its sufferings, its thirst for being able and its madness would lead it to destroy any hope, by its own fault. All the efforts which the researchers had provided, their research, their discoveries and even the Declaration of the Universal Man that they tried to write together, realizing that, finally, all the men were similar and equal, were reduced to nothing because of one only thing: the silly thing of the Man.

science : it is a very great part of the novel….all the history is based on the fact that science perceived the signal thus without science it would not have there history.

Analyzes

Text analyzes: For the analysis of text, here an extract of the speeches of Simon which are more interesting to analyze because they gather more elements " cachés" and metaphorical.

1. This extract is at the end of the book, it is not the final chapter but it marks the end of the history. Eléa giving itself death, Simon loses his reason to live and the history thus takes fine, symbolized by the Translator who jumps, thus making any communication impossible.

2. The sentences are badly structured. Either they are too short, or they are too long and include/understand too many commas. If they are built in this manner, it is to make show through the emotion that Simon tests while speaking about it. The goal of these texts is not to at least include/understand what occurs, it is not its principal goal. What is required through the speeches of Simon, it is to include/understand its feelings and its emotion vis-a-vis the situations. The short sentences stress very important events at the eyes of Simon (" But I did not shout the name of Païkan." , " And they did not include/understand pas." , " The Translator came from sauter".) whereas the long sentences, intersected with many commas, translate its emotion and its stress (" And I insulted them, I seized nearest, I do not know more which it was, I shook it, I struck it, they did not have anything considering, they had let you make, they were imbeciles, pretentious asses, blind cretins… ").

3. " … in one second as short and as long as the long sleep of which we had you tirée". It is a small passage which shows that Simon ends up understanding that Eléa would never have belonged to our world. In one second, it understood that it was going to die and that it is itself which gave itself death. Long and short at the same time because a second does not represent anything on the level time and yet, during this tiny period, it includes/understands so many things at the same time. Just like Eléa which had fallen asleep for one second returns account that had lasted 900.000 years.

4. One can see in this extract that Simon, and thus the narrator, does not address himself to the reader but to Eléa. He uses the pronoun " toi" but it is felt that he is not addressed to the reader. This small precision reinforces the impression which one enters the spirit of Simon and which one sees his most intimate thoughts. What never he would not dare to say and which it ground at the bottom of itself, we can read it through these lines.

5. " You do not see that it was poisoned! " , " Lebeau alone had included/understood me and tore off the needle of the arm of Coban". Simon and Lebeau do not speak about the same person. Simon speaks about Eléa and yet, it is on Coban that Lebeau precipitates. It is the single moment of the book where Simon lets escape a sentence which he would not have finally liked to pronounce. Eléa is more important for him than Coban. And yet it is Coban which could bring peace to whole planet and therefore Lebeau precipitates on him. But Simon makes fun about it, the planet, the life, all that does not have more importance. If Eléa dies, the most invaluable thing that it has, its life does not have any more a direction and therefore Coban does not exist even any more in its eyes.

6. One can see that Simon defers all the fault on the other members of his team. But, once again, there are neither names, nor country. It is the whole world, in this extract, which is found aimed by the claim and the imbecillity whose Simon shows it. That met by the metaphor of Babel, a little low.

7. In this extract, the metaphor " Babel had fallen down on nous" is very clear: Babel, in its original history, tells the history of the men who, speaking all the same language, had linked themselves to build a tower which would reach the skies. God, dissatisfied, condemned them to speak each one a different language. Here, Babel represents the Equation of Zoran and Eléa and Coban brought back to the life. But, just like the tower of Babel, the Equation will be lost and Eléa and Coban, not being able to be brought back to the life, will die. God, symbolized by the Translator, forces each one not to more speak but in his language, which makes any communication impossible. All their efforts and their exploits fall down finally on them. The translator dies out and, so Babel falls down on them.

More thorough research

From a completely objective point of view, it is a book a little utopian and of which certain data are erroneous, like the Russo-American war for example. However, it is a fantastic novel whose scientific features give a very plausible side.

But the writing is simple and complex at the same time, detailed and yet so vague and the history, in any sound together, is fabulous. The fact that Barjavel chose that Gondawa comes from last and not from the future, that before us, the men was more advanced than are we it today (and than we will be it perhaps never), is an idea which goes against all it in what the man believes. That we could regress at the point to eat believed meat, of having all to begin again to zero and not to however be yet not arrived at the stage where we were formerly calls in question all our certainty, of our " supreme intelligence" with the existence of God him even. That Barjavel chose not to designate any culprit for the flight of the Equation of Zoran is of a great clearness. It is the very whole humanity which ruined the new hopes that the Equation of Zoran had brought. Neither the Russia, neither the the United States, neither the Europe, nor Occident, nobody. Nobody, therefore everyone…

The history of Eléa, which is heroin without really the being, brings to human cruelty even more veracity. The need to know of the men, his need to be able, vis-a-vis the innocent purity of Eléa. And Simon, who is not really the hero but who is it nevertheless, whose deep despair and loneliness are of a touching sadness. Its lassitude vis-a-vis the life becomes of a pathetic obviousness when the book is finished, because the reader wanted to see Eléa living, him also and that, through the speeches of Simon, it had ended up testing a feeling of love for it. The reader feels at the same time tenderized by the love of Eléa and Païkan but also torn by that of Simon. One wants to shout " Not! " by finishing the book. And yet only this exit was probable, because the reanimation of the man in first for example would have led to nothing.

Moreover, Barjavel strongly took as a starting point authentic facts for this novel:

" The form of the the Antarctic is almost circular and fact 14 million km ², which corresponds to 25 times the surface of the France. A thick layer of ice covers 98% of surface. The average thickness of this layer of ice is of 2.000 meters. One measured by radar the thickness of the ice, and, under the icecap, the Antarctic is actually an archipelago. Without the ice, in the west of the Antarctic one would find a series of islands and in the east one would find a continent mountainous with some lakes. Since 1960, thanks to the theory of Wegener, one learned that the continents were welded. The study of the fossils of the southern hemisphere proves the existence, there is 200 million years, a cold continent called Gondwana. (and not Gondawa, although the two names resemble each other astonishment). During one moderated time, Amphibians and reptiles lived in the forests. After an intense volcanic activity (symbolized, in " the Night of Temps" , by the use of " the Solaire" Weapon;), Gondwana was dislocated - 120 million years ago - and after a slow drift, the Antarctic was centered on the South pole. Oceanic circulation modified the climate of it, which gave the icecap. This one preserved the memory of the various climates thanks to the air trapped in its flocons." (remarks collected on: )

The fact that a continent really exists under the crust of the south pole more reinforces the scientific but so fictitious features with its book. " The Night of Temps" is a book of a very great quality which mixes love, loneliness and despair. A book which speaks about humanity, its hopes and its silly thing. It belongs to these books that it is at least once necessary to have read in its life.

External bond

• a school analysis of the history: File pdf (Bond diffused with the agreement of the ILove5A.be site)

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