Summary

In Part II, “The Decision,” Chapter 1, the past spread across the globe like a plague. People began dressing in old costumes. All of life became “a reenactment” (123).

In Chapter 2, Gaustine met with three officials about an initiative to reinstate the past. The men wanted Gaustine’s help turning “a whole country or an entire continent back to another time” (124). G.G. was unsure if Gaustine agreed, but imagined he had dreamt “about just such a development” (125). Not long later, nations began discussing a “referendum on the past” (125).

In Chapter 3, G.G. observed Gaustine developing ideas.

In Chapter 4, European elections became obsessed with the past instead of the future. Soon, each nation would choose which past to return to.

In Chapter 5, as G.G. wrote his book, “signs of the coming of the past” accrued (127).

In Chapter 6, everyone agreed that...