Time travel is a widespread popular cultural motif that copes with the transcendent, as it goes beyond physical boundaries and exceeds what is empirically observable. As the contributions in this issue show, the time travel motif not only expresses the tension between a Now and an (imaginary) Then, but it also raises new questions about human transformation. The articles focus on different time travel motifs and their media representations, for example in science fiction and drama film, in Reality TV, and in children’s literature. They raise questions about the central normative categories of a particular time, about political discourses and cultures of remembrance, and also about the formation of identity processes. Through the articles’ different approaches, they do not only take us on a journey through time, but also into a multifaceted network of scholarly perspectives.
Edited by: Verena Marie Eberhardt and Anna-Katharina Höpflinger