Repent, Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman: The Classic Story

This 1965 story is deservedly a classic and a good introduction to Ellison's work. It is not a classic because of its theme - standard stuff about individual revolt against regimentation (Ellison refers deliberately to '1984' in the story) - but because of the way he treats it.

The story is actually very funny for all its ultimately grim subject matter. Whereas Orwell leaves us in a funk of grey dystopian British gloom, Ellison leaves us laughing with (not at) the same basic outcome because of the fun had along the way.

Watching authority being flummoxed and humiliated (by jelly beans at the beginning which is the middle) is always immensely enjoyable. Ellison adds to the fun with his manic verbal energy and some nice digs at Golden Age show more science fiction imagery and rationalism.

The humour never lets us miss the underlying point - the inhuman cruelty of pure reason exercised by bureaucrats following rigid rules to keep society in order. The Tick-Tock Man is a monster precisely because he is not a machine but a human. show less

You'll never think of jelly beans quite the same.

This multi-award winning short story takes Sci Fi writing to an upper echelon, not only delivering a solid science fiction dreary future, it is written with a delight in language and rhythm. And that title!

I loved it!

Listened on Youtube here, narrated by Rick Berry:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXaa32j0WXc

In a future where humanity has become obsessed with timekeeping and punctuality, a single mysterious figure tries to make a change, by wasting everybody's time.

Try reading that in a deep movie trailer voice.

“Repent, Harlequin!” Said the Ticktockman is a whimsical and satirical dystopian short story that won both the Hugo Award for Best Short Story and the Nebula Award for Best Short Story in 1965. In this future we have become so obsessed with punctuality that tardiness has become a crime and the duration of your tardiness will be deducted from your lifespan. This law is implemented by installing a device in everyone, this device is controlled by a “cardioplate” which can turn off a person’s heart if his allotted lifetime show more runs out. The people’s lifetimes are governed by “The Master Timekeeper”, also called “The Ticktockman”, but never to his face. The Harlequin is a superhero of sorts whose only powers are his imagination and defiance. His acts of rebellion are silly public stunts that throw people off their work schedule and cause the unthinkable: delays.

“The System had been seven minutes worth of disrupted. It was a tiny matter, one hardly worthy of note, but in a society where the single driving force was order and unity and promptness and clocklike precision and attention to the clock, reverence of the gods of the passage of time, it was a disaster of major importance.”

The theme of the story is not exactly subtle as Ellison clearly indicates it in the text:

“We no longer let time serve us, we serve time and we are slaves of the schedule, worshippers of the sun's passing, bound into a life predicated on restrictions because the system will not function if we don't keep the schedule tight.”

This is a terrific little story, the prose is wonderfully stylized, surreal and whimsical. I don’t know how relevant the theme is today, certainly I am late for work every day and I tend to get away with it!

_______________________
Note: You can read this story for free online, just Google* the title. I don't want to post a download link when I am not sure of the story's copyright status.

* I am not sure what would happen if you were to Bing it! show less

A good, if convoluted, speculative story about rebelling against ridiculous societal constraints. The Harlequin telling the Ticktockman, repeatedly and with great feeling, to "get stuffed" was especially satisfying.

This is a specially illustrated edition of what is a classic Harlan Ellison short story written originally in 1965. The story is told in non-linear time, beginning in the middle. The protagonist of the title is rebelling against his society's draconian strictures regarding time (being late to work is a crime). Harlequin uses practical jokes to battle the Master Timekeeper (ticktockman). Ellison's prose is light and almost poetic (he isn't always so but he is here) and (dare I say) "Bradbury-an?" I read this as a transparent parable about the stresses of modern western life. Rick Berry's artwork is dark, velvety, and surreal and creates a dimension to the story that hasn't previously existed.

The original short story won won the 1966 Hugo show more and 1965 Nebula awards. show less

It really was the golden age of sci fi, wasn't it? Ellison was so clearly excited about the innovative possibilities of the genre. I love the way the odd writing style reflects and deepens the story.

[Repent, Harlequin!, Said the Ticktockman](https://compositionawebb.pbworks.com/f/%5C'Repent,+Harlequin!%5C'+Said+the+Ticktockman+by+Harlan+Ellison.pdf) by *Harlan Ellison* is a metaphor against an over-reglemented world. It's pretty old, and I'm afraid to my eyes it hasn't aged too well. I totally agree with the message, and the scenario isn't bad either, and the language is poetic, but it didn't capture me at all. Maybe something got due to me not being a native speaker, though.