Accidental travel is a

speculative fiction Speculative fiction is an umbrella term, umbrella genre of fiction that encompasses all the subgenres that depart from Realism (arts), realism, or strictly imitating everyday reality, instead presenting fantastical, supernatural, futuristic, or ...

plot device A plot device or plot mechanism is any technique in a narrative used to move the plot forward. A clichéd plot device may annoy the reader and a contrived or arbitrary device may confuse the reader, causing a loss of the suspension of disbelief ...

in which ordinary people accidentally find themselves outside of their normal place or time, often for no apparent reason, a particular type of the “ fish-out-of-water” plot. In Russian

fandom A fandom is a subculture composed of Fan (person), fans characterized by a feeling of camaraderie with others who share a common interest. Fans typically are interested in even minor details of the objects of their fandom and spend a significan ...

, the trope is known under the term ''popadantsy'', plural form for ''popadanets'', female: ''popadanka'',Challenges in Strategic Communication and Fighting Propaganda in Eastern Europe: Solutions for a Future Common Project
p. 46
/ref> a person who accidentally finds himself elsewhere/elsewhen. The Russian term bears ironical flavor, because ''popadantsy'' have become a widespread cliche in Russian

pulp science fiction Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 until around 1955. The term "pulp" derives from the wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed, due to their cheap nature. ...

.“Попаданцы: Штампы и Открытия”
Boris Nevsky, ''Mir Fantastiki'' ("World of Science Fiction"), no.109; September 2012. Russian critic Boris Nevsky traces this plot device to at least ''

Gulliver's Travels ''Gulliver's Travels'', originally titled ''Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships'', is a 1726 prose satire by the Anglo-Irish writer and clerg ...

'' (18th century).

Types

The accidental

time travel Time travel is the hypothetical activity of traveling into the past or future. Time travel is a concept in philosophy and fiction, particularly science fiction. In fiction, time travel is typically achieved through the use of a device known a ...

trope is specifically known as

time slip 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). Time slip is one of the main plot devices ...

. A classical example of time slip is

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Fau ...

's ''

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court ''A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court'' is an 1889 historical novel by American humorist and writer Mark Twain. The book was originally titled ''A Yankee in King Arthur's Court''. Some early editions are titled ''A Yankee at the Court ...

'' (1889), which had considerable influence on later writers. Other kinds of accidental travel include space travel (e.g., through accidental

wormhole A wormhole is a hypothetical structure that connects disparate points in spacetime. It can be visualized as a tunnel with two ends at separate points in spacetime (i.e., different locations, different points in time, or both). Wormholes are base ...

s, portals (

portal fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or magical elements, often including imaginary places and creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, which later became fantasy literature and drama. From the ...

, ''

isekai is a sub-genre of fiction. It includes novels, light novels, films, manga, webtoons, anime, and video games that revolve around a person or people who are transported to and have to survive in another world such as a fantasy world, virtual wor ...

'') or other spatial irregularities, or a catastrophic spatial event), travel to an alternative universe, an

RPG RPG may refer to: Military * Rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon **''Ruchnoi Protivotankoviy Granatomyot'' (Russian: ''Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт''), hand-held anti-tank grenade laun ...

universe (

litRPG LitRPG, short for literary role-playing game, is a literary genre combining the conventions of computer RPGs with science-fiction and fantasy novels. The term was introduced in 2013. In LitRPG, game-like elements form an essential part of the s ...

), or into an

alternative history Alternate history (also referred to as alternative history, allohistory, althist, or simply A.H.) is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which one or more historical events have occurred but are resolved differently than in actual history. As ...

. An early example of catastrophic space travel is '' Hector Servadac'' (1877) by Jules Verne, where a piece of the Earth with several

Earthling Earthling or Earthlings may refer to: Film and television * ''Earthling'' (film), a 2010 sci-fi film * ''Earthlings'' (film), a 2005 animal rights documentary * '' The Earthling'', a 1980 drama film * "Earthling" (''Fringe''), a 2009 TV episod ...

s is ripped off by a comet. In ''Les Robinsons du cosmos'' (') (1955) by Francis Carsac, pieces of France and the US with plenty of population are ripped off and planted on an alien planet during a collision of two galaxies. In 1912

Edgar Rice Burroughs Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American writer, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best known for creating the characters Tarzan (who appeared in ...

invented

John Carter of Mars John Carter of Mars is a fictional Virginian soldier who acts as the initial protagonist of the Barsoom stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs. A veteran of the American Civil War, he is transported to the planet Mars, called Barsoom by its inhabit ...

, who mysteriously lands on Mars from a sacred cave where he was hiding from the Apaches. Still another way to land somewhere is to be abducted or invited by aliens to live in an advanced star-faring civilization. Common cliches include becoming a slave, or a warrior, or a dying person getting a second chance, with the subsequent social advance. A particular kind of effortless accidental travel is finding oneself in some other place or time occupying someone's else mind, via "identity transfer",

body swap A body swap (also named mind swap, soul swap or brain swap) is a storytelling device seen in a variety of science fiction and supernatural fiction, in which two people (or beings) exchange minds and end up in each other's bodies. '' The Encyclope ...

(mind swap) or mind/ body sharing. Carsac wrote the story with the trick of this type as well: in ''Terre en fuite'' (1960) a scientist hit by lightning suddenly becomes a genius and before his death he reveals that his mind melded with the mind of a scientist from far future. However most of the novel is the description of the future of the Earth expecting the Sun to turn

supernova A supernova (: supernovae or supernovas) is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. A supernova occurs during the last stellar evolution, evolutionary stages of a massive star, or when a white dwarf is triggered into runaway nuclear fusion ...

. Three years earlier

John Dickson Carr John Dickson Carr (November 30, 1906 – February 27, 1977) was an American author of detective stories, who also published using the pseudonyms Carter Dickson, Carr Dickson, and Roger Fairbairn. He lived in England for a number of years, and ...

used this version of the device in the detective genre in his '' Fire, Burn!'', which transports a 1950s detective's consciousness to the early days of the Metropolitan Police in 1829. In Japanese fiction, the genre of accidental transport into a parallel universe or

fantasy world A fantasy world or fictional world is a world created for fictional media, such as literature, film or games. Typical fantasy worlds feature magical abilities. Some worlds may be a parallel world connected to Earth via magical portals or items ...

is known as ''

''.

In Russian fiction

Around the break of the millennium ''popadanstvo'' gained an immense popularity in

Russian science fiction and fantasy Elements of fantastical or supernatural fiction have been part of mainstream Russian literature since the 18th century. Russian fantasy developed from the centuries-old traditions of Slavic mythology and folklore. Russian science fiction emerg ...

. Responding to the demand, the supply of the novels of this type skyrocketed, with an inevitable drop of the overall quality and degeneration of the inventiveness of the writers into a series of clichés."Книги про попаданцев: проблемы и штампы"
/ref> A significant number of ''popadanstvo'' occur at a key moment in the Russian past. Armed with modern knowledge, they turn the tide to the glory of the Motherland, i.e., a ''popadanets'' becomes a progressor, creating an alternative history. It was suggested that this phenomenon of Russian science fiction is characterized by two motivations: “

Mary Sue A Mary Sue is a type of fictional character, usually a young woman, who is portrayed as free of weaknesses or character flaws. The character type has acquired a pejorative reputation in fan communities, with the label "Mary Sue" often applie ...

”-type drive to self-fulfillment and patriotic nostalgy over the times of

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

superpower Superpower describes a sovereign state or supranational union that holds a dominant position characterized by the ability to Sphere of influence, exert influence and Power projection, project power on a global scale. This is done through the comb ...

(

Communist nostalgia Communist nostalgia, also called communism nostalgia or socialist nostalgia, is the nostalgia in various post-communist states of Central and Eastern Europe and Russia for the prior communist states.Bartmanski, DominikSuccessful icons of failed ...

). In 2024

Eliot Borenstein Eliot Borenstein is an author and professor of Russian and Slavic Studies at New York University. His main interests are Russian contemporary literature and cultural studies, conspiracy theories, and internet culture.Soviet nostalgia in Russian literary fiction. Chapters 1 and 2 are devoted to ''popadantsy'' who want to change the future. He calls these "Time Crashers". (''Cornell University Press'' offers a free e-book online). A typical Russian popadanets is one of the three types: an

everyman The everyman is a stock character of fiction. An ordinary and humble character, the everyman is generally a protagonist whose benign conduct fosters the audience's identification with them. Origin and history The term ''everyman'' was used ...

, a commando, or a reenactor, with all undergoing a social lift after travel. While a Russian popadanets used to be a male, since 2000s a flood of pulp fiction emerged featuring female ''popadanka'' hero, typically in the form of

romance fiction A romance or romantic novel is a genre fiction novel that primarily focuses on the relationship and romantic love between two people, typically with an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending. Authors who have contributed to the developme ...

, where popadanka becomes a mighty sorceress or becomes a bride of a mighty man: a king, a sorcerer, an elf, a vampire, etc., often via an “academy of magic”. The livelib.ru website featured 360 books about females landed in a magical world published in 2016, 422 in 2017, and 433 in 2018.

Maria Galina Maria Galina (; born 10 November 1958) is a Russian-language writer of Ukrainian origin. She was born in Kalinin (now the city of Tver) and studied marine biology in Odessa. She lived in Bergen for a while, studying salmon. She started publishing ...

, Ressentiment and post-traumatic syndrome in Russian post-Soviet speculative fiction: Two trends. In:The Post-Soviet Politics of Utopia : Language, Fiction and Fantasy in Modern Russia
p.51
/ref> In 2016

Sergey Lukyanenko Sergei Vasilyevich Lukyanenko (, ; born 11 April 1968) is a Russian science fiction and fantasy author, writing in Russian language, Russian. His works often feature intense Action fiction, action-packed plots, interwoven with the Ethical dilemma ...

wrote a parody short story, ''Vitya Solnyshkin and Iosif Stalin'' . Young pioneer Vitya chances to meet

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

and explains that he is in fact from the future. Stalin is not at all surprised: for years now time travelers swarm to advise Stalin, but comrade Stalin does not rush to follow their advice: he is quite sure that

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

and

Franklin Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

have similar "advisors" as well, and with all these conflicting advices, the history stays in old tracks. A considerable subgenre of ''popadantsy'' was spawned by the

MMORPG A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...

'' EVE Online'', about persons who find themselves in the interstellar world of EVE Online, often captured by

space pirate Space pirates are a type of stock character from science fiction. A take on the traditional seafaring piracy, pirates of history or the fictional air pirates of the 19th century, space pirates travel through outer space. Where traditional pirate ...

slave trader The history of slavery spans many cultures, nationalities, and religions from ancient times to the present day. Likewise, its victims have come from many different ethnicities and religious groups. The social, economic, and legal positions o ...

s. Most of the stories of this kind are of low literary quality, not to say that the idea of "accidental travel" does not fit well into the philosophy of ''EVE Online''. Still, some people may find these stories quite entertaining."Попаданцы в мир EVE Online (самиздат)"
eve-online-com.ru

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Accidental travel Science fiction themes Fantasy tropes

Types

In Russian fiction

See also

Notes

References