Preview of To Say Nothing of the Dog Summary:

The concept of time travel clearly invites social commentary and, as in her previous works, Connie Willis delivers, granting readers a humanistic vision of humanity whose central values, beliefs, and behaviors remain unchanged over time.

One of the central thematic issues at work, coinciding with the social concern of clarifying our relation to the past, is that of preservation. Willis examines several different facets of the question how, given limited resources, we decide what is worth preserving from the past. Lady Schrapnell decides Coventry Cathedral is worthy of being rebuilt and is willing to pour money into that project; however, at times it seems that Lady Schrapnell's abrasive personality undermines the value of what she is doing as an unsympathetic character who often functions almost as an antagonist. Lady Schrapnell does not seem like a character whose value judgments the reader can trust.

At the same time, other...