Pangborn's paradox by David Mason

"Pangborn's Paradox" by David Mason is a short science fiction tale written in the mid-20th century. The story revolves around a group of academic characters engaged in witty discussions about temporal paradoxes and the theoretical implications of time travel. The narrative explores the philosophical and practical challenges posed by time travel, particularly through the lens of a grand experiment involving the protagonist's grandfather. In this story, the main character Pangborn, a member of the Physics department, proposes to use a temporal transducer to go back in time and kill his grandfather, seeking to demonstrate the paradoxes surrounding existence and causality. The scene shifts to a bar in the past where Pangborn confronts his grandfather, leading to an unexpected turn of events where the grandfather, armed and aware, shoots Pangborn instead. This twist complicates the original assumption about time travel and its consequences, leaving the observers—and readers—intrigued by the implications of the experiment. The narrative culminates in a humorous yet thought-provoking reflection on existence, identity, and the nature of time itself. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

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About this eBook

Author Mason, David, 1924-1974
Illustrator Kluga, Richard
Title Pangborn's paradox
Original Publication New York, NY: Royal Publications, Inc., 1958.
Series Title Produced from Infinity June 1958
Credits Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net
Reading Level Reading ease score: 77.4 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read.
Language English
LoC Class PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature
Subject Science fiction
Subject Short stories
Subject Time travel -- Fiction
Category Text
eBook-No. 71917
Release Date
Copyright Public domain in the USA.
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