Douglas Adams - a science fiction writer?

1. Introduction - what is science fiction?
==========================================

 A definition of science fiction as to be found in a dictionary is "fiction
often  based  on  future or recent scientific discoveries, and dealing with
imaginary  worlds,  space  travel,  or  life  on  other  planets." But this
definition  is  certainly  very superficial and extremely summarizing, so I
would like to extend the brief explanation with some more details by famous
science  fiction  writers and publishers. What has to be mentioned first is
the  complexity  of  science  fiction  and why any definition will find its
enemies:

 "Ich  nehme  an,  die  Fruchtbarkeit  des Science Fiction-Feldes sieht man
unter anderem daran, dass sich keine zwei Schreiber des Genres auch nur auf
etwas  so  Fundamentales  wie  seine  Definition einigen koennen - oder auf
seine  Begrenzung  -  und  wo  man  die  Linie zwischen Science Fiction und
realistischer  Fiktion  oder  zwischen  Science  Fiction und Fantasy ziehen
soll." (Asimov, "Meine Betrachtung der Science Fiction")

 But  some  important aspects can be stated, such as: "Science fiction must
involve  itself  with science and technology at least tangentially. It must
deal with a society noticeably different from the real one of its time, and
this  difference  must  involve  some  change  in  the level of science and
technology (...)" (Asimov, "Science Fiction Finds Its Voice")

 Therefore  science  fiction  has  to  discuss  the  future  in  respect of
technological  and  scientific  change  as  well. Kropf explains that as SF
stories provide in their settings some sort of extrapolation of science and
technology  and  that as this altered environment conditions the terms of a
conflict,  it  will always provide an outlook onto the future towards which
we  are  heading. (cf. Carl R. Kropf, "Douglas Adams' 'Hitchhiker' Novels",
p.4)

 The interesting combination of the two words "science" and "fiction" which
might be interpreted wrongly as paradoxical is explained best by a citation
of  Brian  W.  Aldiss' "Introducing SF": "The best science fiction does not
depend for its effect upon a slavish adherence to scientific accuracy; only
some  of  the  worst concerns itself with trying to achieve such adherence.
The  chief  ingredient of SF - to use its more familiar name - is something
that in literature has proved more vitalizing." (Aldiss, "Introducing SF")

 He  continues  that  a  fair rough summary of SF might be that imagination
prevails  over  skill  and what is told is rather what one wishes than what
one knows. (cf. Aldiss, "Introducing SF")

 And  as SF is such an unorthodox form of literature, in which you can find
almost  anything  from  new  ideas which may be useless or real problems in
future  times  to  archetypes  or paradigms which show up in the genre with
ashaming regularity, Aldiss declares already in 1964 that "science fiction,
more  than  any  other  form of writing, is typically the fiction of today.
"This is why an SF story can give you such a powerful stimulus: it is about
what is happening to you." (Aldiss, "Introducing SF")

 Why  science  fiction  is  the  fiction  of  today may be explained by the
interesting  aspect  of  its  variety. The common classification of fiction
into  different  genres  like  love stories, criminal stories and adventure
stories  is  not  the  correct  stage to put SF stories on, because SF as a
whole can include different types of stories as SF is the entire section of
literature which deals with science and technology. And there are many love
or detective stories which simply become SF, because the protagonists own a
robot  or  a  spaceship.  "Von  diesem  Standpunkt  aus betrachtet, ist die
Science  Fiction  keine  Spielart  des  Genres >Fiktion<, sondern eine weit
gefaecherte Gattung, die ihrerseits viele Genres umfasst.

 "(...) Es ist unbestritten, dass wir in einer sich schnell wandelnden Welt
leben,   in  der  das  Heute  veraltet  ist,  bevor  die  Sonne  noch  ganz
untergegangen  ist. (...) Die Science Fiction befasst sich ihrer Natur nach
mit    Veraenderungen.   Sie   akzeptiert   die   Notwendigkeit   und   die
Unvermeidlichkeit  von Veraenderungen als Grundmerkmal ihres eigenen Wesens
(...)  Science  Fiction behandelt die Konsequenzen der Veraenderungen (...)
Sie  ist,  kurz  gesagt,  die  einzige  Literaturgattung, die exakt auf die
heutigen  Probleme,  Aengste  und  Hoffnungen  eingestimmt ist - die einzig
wirklich  aktuelle  Literaturgattung  (...)"  (Asimov,  "Der  Horizont  der
Science Fiction")

 "And  this  is  why  ordinary  people  in  stories  of  the future seem so
meaningful, so capture our imagination: they are us. They are us, magnified
into  what  we hope or dread to be. Their moral predicaments and adventures
reflect  the  predicaments  and  adventures  of  our inner lives." (Aldiss,
"Introducing SF")

 This thought leads to a very important feature of SF stories which many SF
writers quite naturally stick to in order to sustain the reader's interest:
closure. The endings of the stories must be logically deducible and have to
satisfy  the pattern-seeking tendency of the humand mind. "The reader wants
to  know 'how it all turned out' and in the light of the fictive conclusion
to understand how all of the events and characters are ultimately related."
(cf. Carl R. Kropf, "Douglas Adams' 'Hitchhiker' Novels", p.3)

 But  as this is a feature which is widely accepted for any kind of fiction
I  do  not  want  to  explain  at length how it influences SF in general, I
merely will refer to this fact later. Concentrating on the essence of these
introductory  remarks and leaving out a full overview of the development of
science  fiction  in  literature  in  general  and in English literature in
specific,  I  will  now  investigate  how  much Douglas Adams fits into the
criteria of SF as they were established by the writers cited above.


2. Who is This Adams Person Anyway?
===================================

 Douglas Adams is one of the most popular contemporary English authors. His
greatest  success  were the various appearances of "The Hitch Hiker's Guide
to  the  Galaxy"  which  went virtually through any stage a science fiction
epic  might.  Due  to his wide-spread interests he has not yet written many
books,  but  nevertheless  nearly each of them almost immediately darted to
place  one  on  the  bestseller lists. This may be explained with the fact,
that  Douglas Adams has won quite a good reputation as comedy writer in the
course of his career.

 Douglas Noel Adams (DNA) was born on 11th March 1952 in a former Victorian
workhouse  in Cambridge, England. His mother, Janet Adams, née Donovan, was
a  nurse  at Addenbrooke's and his father, Christopher Douglas Adams, was a
postgraduate  theology student at Ridley Hall. Later his father gave up his
training  for holy orders and worked as a teacher of theology, but this was
obviously  not  his  final goal and he became a probation officer and later
even a lecturer on probationary theory and practice.

 His parents got divorced when he was a boy of only five years and he moved
to  Brentwood  with his mother and sister who was born in 1955 to live with
the  parents  of his mother. "That may not sound unusual", he says, "but in
those days it was extremely rare. Since almost everyone gets divorced these
days,  it  is quite hard to appreciate the extent to which it made one feel
different."  Alien? "Very possibly. I was certainly a very disturbed child,
twitchy  and  strange.  I didn't learn to speak until very late. Apparently
the parents at one of my primary schools asked for me to be taken away as I
was  so  odd,  and slightly violent. It was thought I was ESN." (The Times,
17.Oct.92)

 In  1962  his  father  married  again  and  had  another  child in 1965, a
half-sister  to  DNA,  who  now teaches English in the Canaries. His mother
married  Ron Thrift in 1964 and from this marriage DNA got a half-sister in
1966,  who  later  became  a  zoologist and a half-brother in 1968, who now
works  as  a  land agent. His full sister runs the accounts of a company in
the  Midlands  and  his  mother  is now a housewife. His stepfather died of
cancer in 1991.

 From  September  1959  until December 1970 he attended Brentwood School in
Essex,  at  which time he was still more interested in the field of science
than  in  the  arts.  The moment he thought seriously about writing for the
first  time  is  still  most clearly in his mind: It was at the age of ten,
when  he  got "ten out of ten" for a composition - reportedly the first and
only time Mr. Frank Halford has ever given "ten out of ten".

 But  apart from that he was considered a bit awkward and "diabolically bad
at rugby - the first time I ever played it, I broke my own nose on my knee.
It's  quite a trick, especially standing up." About the school he says, "We
tended  to  produce  a  lot  of  media trendies. Me, Griff Rhys Jones, Noel
Edmunds,  Simon  Bell (who wrote the novelisation for Griff and Mel Smith's
famous  non-award  winning  movie,  Morons  from  Outer  Space;  he's not a
megastar yet, but he gives great parties). A lot of people who designed the
Amstrad  Computer  were  at  Brentwood, as well. But we had a major lack of
archbishops, prime ministers and generals."

 In  1964  his school report describes him as "too inclined to blame others
for  his  own  minor misfortunes," and he finds himself changed very little
since  then,  that "it's astonishing the degree to which it is actually the
same  person.  I do tend to get terribly worked up about (...) ridiculously
small, stupid things."

 By  his  essay  on  the  revival  of  religious  poetry  he won himself an
exhibition  to study English at Cambridge. DNA was eager to go to Cambridge
as  he  wanted  to  join Footlights, a comedy revue group there. But in his
first  term he found them "aloof and rather pleased with themselves" and he
joined CULES (Cambridge University Light Entertainment Society) instead.

 Before  and  while  he  studied  at  Cambridge he decided to hitch-hike to
Istanbul and all over Europe and in order to make the money for his travels
he  worked  as a chicken-shed cleaner, barn builder and hospital porter (in
the X-ray department of Yeovil General Hospital; he was not unfamiliar with
this  kind  of job as he had worked in a mental hospital while he was still
at school). These many unorthodox jobs are now a happily stated fact on any
of his book jackets.

 In  his  second  term he joined Footlights on the strength of Simon Jones,
who  was  "friendly  and  helpful,  all  the  things  the others weren't, a
completely  nice  guy".  But as his ideas were not accepted by the rest, he
ended up forming the 'guerilla' revue group Adams-Smith-Adams together with
Adams  and  Smith. They hired a theatre for a week and with them he had his
first  considerable  hit. In summer 1974 DNA left Cambridge and had finally
decided to become a writer and was confident he would.

 None  of  his  several  first  attempts as a comedy writer brought him the
great  success. He eventually worked together with Graham Chapman (a member
of  Monty  Python)  and  John Lloyd, but most of the projects never saw the
light of day and the few that did were not worth mentioning.

 After  another  job  as  a  body-guard to an Arab Royal Family (who earned
about  £20,000,000 every day) he wound up with an enormous overdraft moving
back  to  his  mother's  house  in Dorset, where he did not have to pay any
rent.  "1976  was  my worst year. I'd decided I was hopeless at writing and
I'd never earn any money at it. I felt hopeless and helpless and beached. I
was overdrawn and in a bad way." (Don't panic, p.23)

 But  finally,  on  February  4th  1977,  DNA  met  Simon Brett who was the
producer  of  a Radio 4 comedy programme, The Burkiss Way. This meeting was
the  decisive  moment  for  DNA  as  they agreed on doing a science fiction
comedy,  since DNA had an idea lying around for a while, something of a man
whose  house gets destroyed and shortly after that the earth gets destroyed
for  the  same reason, which should be called "The Ends of the Earth". What
Simon  Brett succeeded in doing was persuading the BBC that they really did
want comedy science fiction: as DNA says, "He guided the notion through all
the  reefs of the various BBC committees that need to approve things before
they go on."

 The  Hitch  Hiker's  Guide  to  the  Galaxy  was  called into existence on
particulary   that   day;   DNA  became  an  extremely  famous  writer  and
revolutionized the world of English comedy and still does up to today.

 On 22nd June 1994 Jane Adams, his wife, whom he met at a dinner party some
day,  gave  birth  to DNA's first child. "Her name is Polly Jane Adams, but
while  she was in the womb she acquired the nickname Rocket. She's long and
slim    and    dark    haired    and    is   incomprehensibly   beautiful."
(alt.fan.douglas-adams, 28.6.94)


3. The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy
========================================

 DNA  himself  dates the idea back to the year 1971 when he was lying drunk
in a field in Innsbruck on one of his hitch-hiking travels. He had with him
a copy of the Hitch Hiker's Guide to Europe by Ken Walsh and not much else.
It was on that occasion that it occurred to him that "if only someone would
write  a  Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as well, then [he] for one would
be  off  like a shot. Having had this thought [he] promptly fell asleep and
forgot about it for six years." (Adams, "A Guide to the Guide")

3.1 Multimedia - short introduction to different kinds of Hitch Hiker
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 As  already  stated,  The  Hitch  Hiker's  Guide  to  the  Galaxy had many
different  appearances.  The  long-running  saga  began  life modestly as a
late-night  radio  serial and flourished phenomenally into several sorts of
bestsellers.  At the end of 1979 Pan Books sold Hitchhiker paperbacks at an
amount of 100,000 a month and Virgin sold 300 record albums a day. The tale
of  an  earthling  named  Arthur  Dent suddenly became "an In-Thing. People
talked about it." (cf. Sunday Times, 2.Dec.79)

 The  at that time 27-year-old and somewhat diffident Douglas Adams foresaw
the  following  for the hardback version of The Guide: "I don't know who'll
buy  it  at  the  hardback  price  after  it  has  already sold hundreds of
thousands  (as  paperback).  As  far  as  I'm concerned it's really for the
archives." (Sunday Times, 2.Dec.79)

3.1.1 Radio Series
------------------

 The  very first appearance of The Guide was on BBC Radio 4 on 8 March 1978
at 10.30. "One thing that everyone involved in the creation of Hitchhiker's
is  clear  on is how definite Douglas Adams was on what kind of show it was
he  wanted: how it would sound, what it would be. (...) he was sure that it
would  be  (...)  a  'sound collage', unlike anything done on radio before.
Epoch-making. A milestone in radio comedy." (Don't Panic, p.31)

 DNA  had  some difficulties in achieving this as, on the one hand, nothing
remotely  similar  had  ever  been done before, so there were absolutely no
specialists  to  be  invited to do the work, and, on the other hand, it got
blocked by some lifted eyebrows at the BBC, who didn't know what to do with
their  first  radio  science  fiction since Journey into Space in the 1950s
being simultaneously a comedy, but in contrast to common comedy productions
without  a  studio  audience.  And  all this was to be broadcast in stereo.
(16272 byte)

 But  this  was precisely the essence of its great success: Science fiction
fans  liked  the extraterrestrical touch and radio lovers were impressed by
the  quality  of  the 'wizardry of the Radiophonic Workshop', which it cost
sometimes days to get the particular sound effect right.

 "The only voice raised against the series came from Mr Arthur Butterworth,
who  wrote to the Radio Times, saying, "In just about 50 years of radio and
latterly  TV  listening  and watching, this strikes me as the most fatuous,
inane,  childish,  pointless,  codswallopping  drivel...  It  is  not  even
remotely funny."" (Don't panic, p.70)

3.1.2 Stage plays
-----------------

 The  Hitchhiker  was  produced  as  a  stage  play  three times. The first
theatrical  production  was  put  on at the ICA (Institute for Contemporary
Arts)  in  London  on  1st-9th  May  1979 by Ken Campbell's Science Fiction
Theatre  Company  of  Liverpool.  It  was  more a show of 90 minutes than a
conventional stage play. The actors performed on little platforms while the
auditorium  floated around the ICA on air skates. The 640 tickets that were
available  altogether had been sold out long before the show opened. All in
all the audience had a great evening and the show was a great success.

 The  second performance was directed by Jonathan Petherbridge and given by
the  Theatr  Clwyd, a Welsh theatre company, around Wales from 15th January
until 23rd February 1980.

 The  last  Hitchhiker  incident in the theatrical world was at the Rainbow
Theatre  in London. The first two productions had been successful, but this
last  one  that  got  noticed  on  a  larger scale was, according to DNA, a
fiasco. (cf. Don't Panic, p.63)

3.1.3 Novels
------------

 The  first  two Hitchhiker novels ("The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
and  "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe") are almost only the novel
version  of  the radio series. A few new ideas have been added to round the
story up, and admittedly the order of things has changed a lot, but more or
less  it  becomes  quite clear that the plot has been invented in episodes.
And, of course, all the cut lines and ideas were then finally published. An
interesting  fact  is  that  in  some cases DNA extremely changes cause and
effect  from  the  radio series to the novel version. For example, on radio
one could hear that the protagonists get blown to the Restaurant at the End
of  the  Universe  by an exploding computer bank (cf. Radio Scripts, Fit V,
p.90-91)  and  then  steal the ship of an admiral of the space fleet who is
the cause for their parting. In the novels the Infinite Improbability Drive
blasts  them to the Restaurant and they steal the stunt ship of a rock band
which dives into a sun as a show effect and in their effort of getting away
from this ship they are separated.

3.1.4 TV Show
-------------

 "At  first,  I  wasn't  that  interested  in  doing  a  visual  version of
Hitchhiker's.  But while I was working on Dr Who I began to realise that we
have  an enormous amount of special effects stuff which is simply not being
used as it might be. If it turns out the way I'm beginning to visualise it,
I  think  it could actually look very extraordinary." - Douglas Adams, 1979
(Don't Panic, p.76)

 "The  Hitchhiker television series was not a happy production. There was a
personality clash between myself and the director. And between the cast and
the  director.  And  between  the  tea lady and the director...." - Douglas
Adams, 1983 (Don't Panic, p.76)

 The  TV  series was first aired in 1981 on BBC 2. It made Hitchhiker known
to  those  who  had not yet heard of the radio series or the novels. A very
complicated  aspect  of  the  story  was  the narrator which was on radio a
natural  and  easy  thing  to  realize.  But  on television the book had to
factually  be  there. The computer read-outs of The Guide in the television
series  were  all hand-drawn by Pearce Studios under animator Rod Lord. The
animated  sequences of Hitchhiker's received two of ten awards in the BAFTA
Awards in 1981.

 Those  scenes  in  which  the  book  is  seen  hand-held while showing its
read-outs,  were  projected  from behind onto the screen of the book with a
conventional movie projector.

3.1.5 Computer Games
--------------------

 DNA has also turned the Hitchhiker saga into a computer game. It is a text
adventure  which  goes  beyond  the known story. One slips into the role of
Arthur  Dent and has to face the complications of the universe. The game is
nearly  impossible  to  complete  as  DNA  calls  for the same flexible and
inventional  mind  his  novels  reveal.  It  is  merely  based on the first
two-thirds  of  the first book and leaves its plot almost completely at the
Heart of Gold where the GPP machines become a real problem.


3.2 The most important aspects of all the plot
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 "The  Hitchhiker's  Guide  to the Galaxy is the most remarkable, certainly
the most successful book ever to come out of the great publishing companies
of  Ursa  Minor.  It  is about the size of a paperback book, but looks more
like  a  large  pocket calculator, having upon its face over a hundred flat
press-buttons  and a screen about four inches square, upon which any one of
over  six  million  pages  can  be summoned almost instantly. It comes in a
durable  plastic  cover,  upon  which the words DON'T PANIC! are printed in
large, friendly letters." (Don't Panic, Foreword)

 This  fictive  book  is  carefully  woven  into the plot of the Hitchhiker
novels,  radio  and  TV shows and stage plays. Or more precisely, it is the
basis  of the plot, the common ground, with which DNA interconnects all the
muddled events which happen seemingly, but not quite, at random.

 The  one  protagonist  who  shares  the  confusion  with the reader and is
simultaneously  the  'hero'  of the complete story is Arthur Dent, a common
English  everyman.  His primary objective and in fact the only challenge he
accepts is the search for a drinkable cup of tea.

 The  hitch-hike  starts  off with the destruction of his house to make way
for  a  bypass  and  shortly  thereafter  the  destruction of the Earth for
precisely  the same reason by the first alien race introduced in the story:
the  Vogons.  DNA  has  knitted together an ingenious plot which implicitly
introduces a narrator to the story in the form of the electronic book and a
character  who  knows  a  lot  more  about  the universe than Arthur or the
reader,  a  field  researcher  working  for The Guide. The name this roving
researcher  eventually  gave himself is Ford Prefect, because as he arrived
at Earth "he had skimped a bit on his preparatory research. The information
he  had  gathered  had  led  him to choose the name "Ford Prefect" as being
nicely inconspicuous." (Hitch Hiker, chapter 1, p.13)

 This  joke  can  only  be understood if one knows that at the time DNA was
writing  Hitchhiker  a popular car in England was the Ford Prefect and that
Ford  simply  had  considered  cars the predominant life form on earth. The
only  survivors  of  the destruction of the Earth are these two persons, as
Ford  as  a  typical hitch-hiker finds a way to get aboard one of the Vogon
spaceships.

 The  confusing  aspect which causes difficulties in summing up the plot in
brief  is  that DNA often introduces new cultures or even complete galaxies
only  to  illustrate  the  merest  incidence  or  technological device. For
example,  the Dentrassis, who are the cooks on Vogon spaceships and said to
be "the best cooks and the best drink mixers and they don't give a wet slap
about  anything  else"  (Hitch Hiker, chapter 5, p.41) or the Oglaroonians,
who are a typical example of people who ignore the size of the universe for
the sake of a quiet life. (cf. Radio Scripts, Fit VIII, p.163) (*)

 Yet  one  being  might  still  be  important:  The Babel fish, which helps
getting around a basic problem which most SF stories seem to ignore, namely
communication.  The  Babel  fish  "feeds on brainwave energy, absorbing all
unconscious  frequencies  and then excreting telepathically a matrix formed
from  the conscious frequencies and nerve signals picked up from the speech
centres  of  the  brain; the practical upshot of which is that if you stick
one  in  your  ear you can instantly understand anything said to you in any
form  of  language  -  the  speech  you hear decodes the brainwave matrix."
(Radio Scripts, Fit I, p.29)

 Shortly  after  the  'rescue'  Ford  and  Arthur  are  thrown  out  of the
spaceship, because Vogons do not like hitch-hikers. This is the point where
two  other  main  characters  and  the most important scientific gadget are
introduced  to  the  story:  Zaphod  Beeblebrox,  Trillian and the Infinite
Improbability  Drive.  Zaphod  is Ford's 'semi-cousin' and the President of
the  Galaxy,  which is not really important as the "President in particular
is  very  much a figurehead - he wields no power whatsoever." (Hitch Hiker,
chapter 4, p.33)

 Zaphod is characterized as very 'cool' and a notorious playboy, but in all
decisive  moments he behaves rather cowardly. He is egocentric and egoistic
and  generally  very  concerned  about  his  ego, but finally he is still a
sympathetic  character. He is humanoid but had chirurgically added an extra
head and an extra arm.

 Trillian - or Tricia McMillan - is a woman born on Earth who was picked up
by  Zaphod  at  a  party  in Islington where she previously had met Arthur.
These  'coincidences'  are  reasoned  out  by the scientific invention, the
Infinite  Improbability  Drive which "is a wonderful new method of crossing
vast  interstellar  distances  in a mere nothingth of a second, without all
that tedious mucking about in hyperspace. (...) The principle of generating
small  amounts of finite improbability (...) were of course well understood
(...)" (Hitch Hiker, chapter 10, p.68-69)

 The generation of an infinite improbability generator was made possible by
calculating  exactly  how improbable such a generator was and creating this
finite improbability.

 This  invention makes it possible to move along a higher axis. DNA alludes
to  the  fact that mathematically infinitely more than three dimensions can
be  calculated  and  as  conventional  propulsion methods accelerate in the
first  three dimensions, The Infinite Improbability Drive accelerates along
which DNA calls the Improbability axis.

 Zaphod  had  stolen  the The Heart of Gold, a ship prototype equipped with
this  'engine'  when  he  was  meant  to  launch it and DNA establishes the
characters  on  this  ship  together with an android Marvin, who is another
prototype.   A  prototype  of  a  "new  generation  of  Sirius  Cybernetics
Corporation  robots  and  computers, with the new GPP feature" which stands
for  Genuine  People  Personalities,  i.e.  human  behaviour  in  chatting,
expressing  feelings  and  getting on nerves. (cf. Hitch Hiker, chapter 11,
p.74)

 Marvin  is the first experiment of this personality programming and he has
an  exceptionally powerful brain and an almost infinite capacity for mental
activity  of  all  kinds  except  for  happiness. Therefore he is manically
depressed  as  the  depressive  factors  are infinitely higher. He is often
nicknamed the Paranoid Android.

 The  goal  Zaphod  pursued  with  this theft remains unrevealed very long,
there  are  only  some slight indications that there is a higher plot which
determines  the  actions  and  events,  e.g.  on  Magrathea Zaphod mentions
modifications  in  his  brains someone had made in order to make him forget
why he wanted to become President.

 The  first  destination  is the planet Magrathea, the home of a specialist
industry  created  "far back in the mists of ancient time, in the great and
glorious  days  of  the former Galactic Empire": "custom-made luxury planet
building." (Hitch Hiker, chapter 15, p.89)

 In  orbit  around  Magrathea  the ship is attacked by two nuclear missiles
which turn into a bowl of petunias and a sperm whale as Arthur turns on the
Infinite  Improbability  Drive  as a last escape from certain death shortly
before the impact.

 On  Magrathea  they meet Slartibartfast, a man who designes coastlines and
has  a  compassion  for fjords. This man will become important later in the
plot  when  Arthur  and his companions save the universe. From him we learn
that the Earth was built by the Magratheans for a super-intelligent race as
a gigantic computer in which life itself is part of the calculation matrix.
The  sole  task  the  Earth  had  to  solve  is to find The Question. Those
pan-dimensional beings had built a computer, Deep Thought, which calculated
the  answer to life, the universe and everything which was in fact 42. Deep
Thought explained that one could only understand the answer if one knew the
appropriate question and as it was impossible for Deep Thought to calculate
it, the Earth had to be built. But the ten-million program of the Earth was
unfortunately  interrupted  five  minutes  before  its  completion  by  its
destruction. Hence the question remains undiscovered.

 The  following  events and their order varies in the different versions of
the  Hitchhiker epic and I will concentrate on the essential points. Having
left  Magrathea  and  heading  towards  The  Restaurant  at  the End of the
Universe to have lunch, The Heart of Gold is attacked by the Vogons. Due to
a  technical  problem,  i.e. the computer is jammed with Arthur's wish of a
drinkable  cup  of  tea, they need help from Zaphod's Great Grandfather - a
ghost.  From  him we get to know that Zaphod only became President to steal
The  Heart  of  Gold and with its help to find the one who really rules the
universe.

 Zaphod  Beeblebrox  is  caught  by  Frogstar  fighters, a kind of galactic
police,  and  is,  as a sentence for stealing The Heart of Gold, brought to
The  Total  Perspective  Vortex  which  "can  annihilate  a man's soul! The
treatment  lasts  seconds,  but  the  effect  lasts the rest of your life!"
(Restaurant, chapter 8, p.52)

 It  "derives  its  picture  of  the  whole  Universe  on  the principle of
extrapolated matter analyses.

 "To  explain  - since every piece of matter in the Universe is in some way
affected  by  every  other piece of matter in the Universe, it is in theory
possible  to  extrapolate  the whole of creation - every sun, every planet,
their orbits, their composition and their economic and social history from,
say, one small piece of fairy cake." (Restaurant, chapter 11, p.63)

 So  when  it  is  turned  on one sees in one instant the whole infinity of
creation   and  oneself  in  relation  to  it  and  this  shock  completely
annihilates the brain. (cf. Restaurant, chapter 11, p.64)

 But  luckily  Zaphod  is  not  in  the real universe, but in an artificial
fascimile  and therefore leaves The Total Perspective Vortex unharmed. This
artifical  universe  is  the  property  of  Zarniwoop, a man who originally
planned  with Zaphod Beeblebrox to visit the man who rules the universe and
we  learn  that the whole thing was staged for one single purpose: To bring
The  Heart  of  Gold to Zarniwoop as no other ship is capable of getting to
this man.

 Eventually  Zaphod,  Trillian,  Arthur  and  Ford  find  themselves in The
Restaurant  at  the  End of the Universe. How they get there is not clearly
explained   and   varies   largely  in  different  versions.  Anyway,  this
establishment  "is  one  of  the  most extraordinary ventures in the entire
history of catering. It is built on the fragmented remains of an eventually
ruined  planet  which is (...) enclosed in a vast time bubble and projected
forward  in time to the precise moment of the End of the Universe. (...) In
it,  guests  take (...) their places at table and eat (...) sumptuous meals
whilst   watching  (...)  the  whole  of  creation  explode  around  them."
(Restaurant, chapter 15, p.80)

 But  here  again  we  miss  the  great moment of final dissolvement as the
characters  rush  to the car park where Marvin awaits them and they steal a
ship,  which  brings  them  towards another catastrophe, in which this ship
gets  destroyed.  They  escape,  but are now separated. Ford and Arthur get
aboard  a  ship  that  'evacuates'  "an  entire  useless  third  of the(ir)
population"  (Restaurant,  chapter 25, p.147), or "a load of useless bloody
loonies" (Radio Scripts, Fit VI, p.120) as Ford calls them, from the planet
of  Golgafrincham  and  which  was  programmed to crash-land on prehistoric
Earth.

 The  visit  of  the  man who rules the universe does not give much insight
into  how  or  why  the universe works, we merely find out that the one who
rules it lives in a shack and shows no interest in the universe whatsoever.
According  to  DNA's  definition  how  government  should  function  he  is
presumably the best one to find for governing the universe.

 "The  major  problem  - one of the major problems, for there are several -
one  of  the  many major problems with governing people is that of whom you
get  to  do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to
them.  To  summarize:  it  is a well known fact, that those people who most
want  to  rule  people  are,  ipso  facto,  those least suited to do it. To
summarize  the  summary:  anyone  who is capable of getting themselves made
President  should  on no account be allowed to do the job. To summarize the
summary  of  the  summary:  people are a problem." (Restaurant, chapter 28,
p.152)

 These  are the main aspects of the plot as to be found in the radio and TV
series.  DNA  now  proceeds  with  more tightly knitted and more conclusive
events. The third novel begins with Arthur having been alone on prehistoric
Earth  for  five  years.  Then  Ford  shows  up  and  they escape through a
space-time  instability  to  the  "middle  of  the  pitch at Lord's Cricket
Ground,  St  John's Wood, London, towards the end of the last Test Match of
the  Australian  Series  in  the  year  198-,  with  England  needing  only
twenty-eight runs to win." (Life, chapter 2, p.18)

 At  this  point  they meet again with Slartibartfast who is now doing some
part-time work for the Campaign for Real Time, which tries to stop problems
which  arise  with the increasing popularity of time travel. Slartibartfast
owns  the  Starship  Bistromath,  equipped with The Bistromathic Drive, yet
another  revolutionary  new  way  of  propulsion  which  is  based  on  the
observation  that numbers go along the theory of relativity of Einstein and
especially  well  in  small  Italian  bistros. The new understanding of the
behaviour  of  numbers, called Bistromathics, made this invention possible.
(cf. Life, chapter 7, p.39)

 Since  they  met Slartibartfast they try to inhibit a group of robots from
gathering  together  a key which can release the planet of Krikkit from its
envelope of Slo-Time, inside which life continues almost infinitely slowly.
All  light is deflected round the envelope so that it remains invisible and
impenetrable.  Escape from the envelope is impossible unless it is unlocked
from the outside.

 The  planet  of  Krikkit  was  sentenced  to  this  perpetual exile as the
inhabitants,  under  the influence of the extremely powerful and aggressive
computer Hactar, developed into a race which profoundly believed in "peace,
justice, morality, culture, sport, family life, and the obliteration of all
other life forms." (cf. Life, chapter 14, p.76)

 Hactar  was  a  gigantic spaceborne computer. It was the first to be built
like  a  natural  brain,  in that every cellular particle of it carried the
pattern of the whole within it, which enabled it to think more flexibly and
imaginatively,  and  also, as it was pulverized by its creators, because he
objected  to  building  a  working  Ultimate Weapon which would destroy the
whole  universe at once, not to get destroyed but to keep his consciousness
even as a dust cloud wrapped around the planet of Krikkit.

 In  the  course  of their efforts to find parts of the key to the Slo-Time
envelope   before   the  Krikkit  robots,  Arthur  is  confronted  with  an
interesting creature of the Hitchhiker saga, Agrajag, who eventually brings
him  into  a  huge  cave  he  craved out of a mountain only for this single
purpose.  Agrajag  is  a  soul that over millions of years and in the whole
universe  reincarnates  and  goes  through one decisive thing in any of his
many  lives:  he  gets  killed  by  Arthur  Dent. Agrajag was many flies he
killed,  some of them were even swatted with the skin of a rabbit which had
been  Agrajag  again.  Ants  or newts Arthur stepped on, a bowl of petunias
which  was  called  into  existence  several  miles  above  the  surface of
Magrathea,  all  these  beings were in fact one person who at this point of
the  plot  threatens  to kill Arthur with the help of his "last body. [His]
last  life.  (...)  [His]  revenge body. [His] kill-Arthur-Dent body. [His]
last chance." (Life, chapter 18, p.94)

 As  Agrajag  points  out  the  many  of  his pointless deaths, he casually
mentions  an incident on Stavromula Beta where someone should have tried to
assassinate  Arthur  and  he  ducked and the bullet hit him instead. But as
Arthur  has  not  yet been there, it is logically impossible for Agrajag to
take  revenge  on Arthur now and in fact for anything to kill Arthur before
he  is  again directly or indirectly responsible for Agrajag's death there.
(cf. Life, chapter 18, p.96)

 So  the  inevitable  happens  and  Agrajag's last body gets killed when it
tries  to  blow up Arthur together with the complete mountain in which they
are.  But  Arthur escapes and learns to fly. DNA lets the Guide explain how
anyone  can  learn  to  fly  as follows: "There is an art (...) or rather a
knack  to  flying.  The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the
ground  and  miss.(...)  All  it  requires  is  simply the ability to throw
yourself forward with all your weight, and the willingness not to mind that
it's  going  to hurt. (...) One problem is that you have to miss the ground
accidentally.  (...) You have to have your attention suddenly distracted by
something  else  when  you're  halfway  there,  so  that  you are no longer
thinking  about  falling, or about the ground, or about how much it's going
to hurt if you fail to miss it." (Life, chapter 11, p. 58)

 These  two  events, Agrajag assuring Arthur a lasting life until he was on
Stavromula  Beta, and Arthur's new ability to fly, become very important in
the  further  development  of  the plot, i.e. in the last two novels of the
Hitchhiker  'trilogy',  but  not  in  the quest for the key to the Slo-Time
envelope of the planet Krikkit. The protagonists all completely fail to get
the pieces of the key before the Krikkit robots appropriate them.

 And  so  Slartibartfast  and  his  companions  are  unable  to prevent the
reassembly  of  the key. Being in low spirits already that now the universe
will  come  to  an  end  violently as the Krikkit fighters are set free and
stand  good  chances to realize their plan of destroying the whole universe
with   the  help  of  the  Ultimate  Weapon,  Arthur,  Trillian,  Ford  and
Slartibartfast  make  a  final  effort  to  avert  the  disaster.  Trillian
concludes  that the whole development of Krikkit and all their weapon power
was  nurtured  by  Hactar.  Since  the planet was locked away from Hactar's
influence by the envelope of Slo-Time, Trillian finds friends on the planet
of Krikkit who help her and the others to get through to the leaders alive.
After Trillian delivered a speech at the Elder Masters of Krikkit about her
theory  of  Hactar  bringing  up the inhabitants of Krikkit as an extremely
aggressive  race she and Arthur factually meet Hactar, who welcomes them in
the  dust  cloud  which he, in fact, is. Trillian's theory is corroborated,
Hactar  planned to destroy the whole universe with his Ultimate Weapon as a
revenge   for   his  pulverization.  ""Remember,"  he  said,  "that  I  was
pulverized,  and  then  left  in  a  crippled  and  semi-impotent state for
billions of years. I honestly would rather wipe out the universe. You would
feel the same way, believe me."" (Life, chapter 32, p.145-146)

 As soon as the facts have been found out, the decision is made to disperse
Hactar  and  finally destroy his consciousness, which is carried out by The
Heart of Gold. After that Slartibartfast and his Starship Bistromath vanish
into  "an  entirely  subjective  idea of what space was" (Life, chapter 32,
p.146) and are never mentioned again.

 Arthur,  Trillian,  Ford  and  Zaphod  are  again on The Heart of Gold and
eventually  find Prak, a man who was a witness at a trial and who was given
too  much  of  a  truth  drug.  When  they find him he has already finished
telling  the  "Truth,  the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth" as he was
told  to  do, but he can only remember very little. He seemingly knows much
about  Arthur  Dent, but he must laugh about him persistently, so we do not
get  to know anything new. The one information that Prak gives us, is where
they can find God's last message to his creation.

 With  this  "Life, the Universe and Everything" ends. The sequel "So Long,
and  Thanks  for  all  the  Fish"  is  not  tied to the previous plot. More
specifically,  it  does  not  really fit into the concept of the Hitchhiker
novels  at  all. This book does not carry on the plot of the previous story
and  even  DNA  never  really liked this book. What happens is this: Arthur
Dent  returns to the place where the Earth should have been demolished. But
he  finds one, a shadow Earth which was put there by dolphins who initiated
a  Campaign  to  Save  the Humans and left this replacement. All the people
think  the  Vogons  had  been a mass hallucination caused by the CIA trying
experiments  in  drug  warfare. Two persons on Earth exist who seem to know
more  about  it, or simply do not belong to this other Earth, Fenchurch and
Wonko  the  Sane.  Large  parts  of  the book deal with a love story, which
develops between Arthur and Fenchurch, who do both a lot of flying together
after  Arthur  tought Fenchurch how it works. They visit Wonko the Sane who
clears  the  situation  up  a  bit by showing them a farewell gift from the
dolphins.

 Ford Prefect is the only other person from the previous novels who appears
in this one: He is on his version of holiday in a war zone hitch-hiking. He
takes control of one of the ships and directs it to Earth where he picks up
Arthur  and  Fenchurch.  The  three  of them then travel to the planet Prak
reported  God's  last  message  on  and  meet  Marvin,  who is by this time
thirty-seven  times  older  than  the  universe due to time-travels. Marvin
reads  God's  last  message  and dies. The message is "We apologise for the
inconvenience".

 "Mostly  Harmless"  marks  the  end  of the Hitchhiker 'trilogy'. The book
introduces   another   Earth   in  another  parallel  universe.  There  are
differences  between  Arthur Dent's original home-planet and this Earth. It
has never been demolished to make way for a hypergalactic bypass and clover
has ordinarily four leaves and it is regarded as a sign of luck if you find
one  with  three  leaves and Tricia McMillan has never left this Earth. She
has become a TV anchor person as she is absolutely sure that she missed her
great chance by not leaving the party with Zaphod.

 Another  planet  in  the  solar system is discovered, named Persephone and
nicknamed  Rupert  after some astronomer's parrot. On this planet a damaged
spaceship lands and monitors the Earth. This is because the damage affected
the  memory banks of the ship and all they can remember is that they should
monitor something.

 There  are two other threads in "Mostly Harmless", Ford Prefect and Arthur
Dent.  Arthur  has  lost  Fenchurch  who  has completely vanished during an
accident  in  hyperspace,  which  is explained with the fact that Fenchurch
originates from a plural sector of the galaxy, which is known as ZZ9 Plural
Z  Alpha,  the  position of the Earth. We learn that hyperspace travels are
extremely  dangerous  for  beings  from  sectors  like  this  one, as their
existence  is  not  stable  through  all  the different possible universes.
Arthur  tries  to  find  a planet where he can settle down and lead a quiet
life.  He finds a planet, NowWhat, in the place where the Earth should have
gone  as  it  should have been demolished. It looks similar to the Earth he
knows,  but  the  only extant form of animal life on NowWhat are 'boghogs',
"tiny   vicious   creatures"  (Mostly  Harmless,  chapter  7,  p.54)  which
communicate  by biting each other very hard on the thigh. This is no planet
Arthur  feels  at  home  on  and he begins to hitch-hike through the galaxy
financing  the  travels  by  donating  body cells to DNA banks all over the
universe.

 Eventually  one of the ships, on which he is on the way with, crashes onto
the  planet  of  Lamuella  with  him being the only survivor. The people of
Lamuella  are  friendly and Arthur finds what he was searching for: He does
the  only  thing  he  can  do  properly  and  becomes The Sandwich Maker of
Lamuella  and  leads a quiet life until Trillian shows up and confronts him
with their daughter Random. Trillian called her daughter Random as she went
to a DNA bank for semen. As Arthur was the only existing homo sapiens donor
Random  is  definitely  his  daughter. She leaves Random with Arthur as she
(now  working  for one of the big Sub-Etha broadcasting networks) often has
to travel in space and time, has to go to a war zone and is concerned about
the safety of Random.

 Ford  Prefect  finds out that the publishing coorporation of The Guide was
bought  by  InfiniDim  Enterprises  which  had  immediately initiated major
changes to the management of the marketing of The Guide. They also produced
an  entirely  new Guide, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy Mk II, which
Ford  steals  from  their research department and sends to Arthur Dent in a
parcel.  Ford  also  finds  out  that  InfiniDim  Enterprises  is partly an
organization  of  Vogons,  which  alarms  him  and  he  soon concludes that
something  "is  wildly,  crazily,  stupidly  cross-eyed-blithering-insectly
wrong"  (Mostly  Harmless, chapter 18, p.165) about their perception of all
the  things that happen. He explains to Arthur he meets on Lamuella how the
new Guide works:

 It makes use of the new technology of Unfiltered Perception. The new Guide
can  perceive  everything.  That means all parallel realities or all of the
"Whole  Sort  of  General  Mish  Mash"  as  DNA calls it. (Mostly Harmless,
chapter  3,  p.26).  But as it is totally unlimited it actually changes the
whole  universe at free will, e.g. it enables Random who gets hold of it on
Lamuella  to  visit  an  Earth  which has not been destroyed by the Vogons.
Shortly  after she arrives there, Arthur and Ford get there, too. It is the
Earth  which was described at the beginning of the book with Tricia working
as  a  TV anchor person who certainly does not know Random, although she is
more or less the same person only on a different point in probability. Then
Trillian  appears  as  well  and  they all meet at a club named Beta, whose
owner  is  a  man  called  Stavro  Mueller. A scuffle breaks out and Stavro
Mueller  is shot dead. The full name of the club is Stavro Mueller Beta and
this  is  the  expected  event  of  the  last  killing  of Agrajag. Shortly
thereafter  the  Earth is destroyed by the Vogons, only that this time they
make use of the Guide Mk II, which eradicates the existence of the Earth in
all possible universes. This is quite definitely the end of the whole plot.

 (*)  This  is  virtually  all  that is mentioned about these races. As one
could easily find an abundance of such examples, I will not go into further
detail in this aspect.


3.3 The "trilogy" as comedy science fiction
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 "When you go along with an idea to a comedy producer he'd say, 'Well, this
has  got  robots and spaceships, hasn't it? Well, that's drama. You have to
go  to  the drama department with that. They do robots and spaceships.' And
so  you  go  along  to somebody in the drama department and they say, 'Yes,
robots  and  spaceships,  yes,  we do those. Oh, hang on, what's this line?
This  is  a joke, isn't it? Sorry, we don't do jokes. You have to go to the
comedy department for that.'" (alt.fan.douglas-adams, 8.2.94)

 That  the  Hitchhiker  epic is SF is indisputable. It deals with imaginary
worlds,   space   travel,  life  on  other  planets  and  an  abundance  of
technological  and scientific inventions as clearly shown in the summary of
the plot.

 Carl R. Kropf discusses the Hitchhiker novels as mock SF and gives a brief
summary  of  how  the  mock  genre  works:  By  the  author  reversing  all
conventions and paradigmatic expectations readers have learned to associate
with  the  genre  its  ideological  function  is  reversed as well and thus
satirized. The examples of disappointed expectations are numerous, such as:

 "Adams' novels begin with the apparent destruction of the Earth (...). The
two humans to escape are, as one might expect, a man and a woman, and , one
naturally  expects,  the  two  will eventually settle on some Edenic planet
where  we  can watch the author work out yet another version of the Genesis
myth. Unfortunately, however, (...) contrary to all established precedents,
Arthur remains indifferent to her and to sex through the first three novels
of the series." (Carl R. Kropf, "Douglas Adams' 'Hitchhiker' Novels", p.2)

 Kropf  states  that  "the  point  is  obvious enough. Adams is consciously
reversing  the conventions of the genre. The result is a good deal of humor
as,  time  and  again,  the reader's normal expectations are disappointed."
(Carl R. Kropf, "Douglas Adams' 'Hitchhiker' Novels", p.2)

 I  disagree  with  Kropf's  view  that  a  "more important effect of these
reversals  is  that  Adams'  novels  become  reflexive,  commenting  on the
bankruptcy  of the genre's paradigms and raising questions about the nature
and  function  of  the  genre  as it is understood in terms of the reader's
response." (Carl R. Kropf, "Douglas Adams' 'Hitchhiker' Novels", p.2)

 The  novels  certainly achieve this, but I would not put this effect above
their humorous or even philosophical quality. Kropf contradicts himself by,
on  the  one  hand, explaining how inconclusive mock SF ought to be and, on
the  other  hand, pointing out the story of Agrajag, which is an example of
the  contrary  in  DNA's work. In "The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy" a
bowl  of  petunias  is  created  in  mid-air  and Adams tells us "Curiously
enough,  the  only thing that went through the mind of the bowl of petunias
as  it  fell  was  Oh no, not again. Many people have speculated that if we
knew  exactly why the bowl of petunias had thought that we would know a lot
more  about  the  nature  of  the  universe  than we do now." (Hitch Hiker,
chapter 18, p.103)

 Several  hundred  pages  later  we find out and we do, in fact, know a lot
more, as even Kropf admits, about the nature of the universe: "For Agrajag,
Arthur  is  the  meaning  of  life,  (...) is "how it all turns out". (...)
Agrajag  (...) stands in relation to Arthur as the reader does to Adams and
as humanity does to the Creator of the universe. Arthur, Adams, and God are
the  creators  of  the respective worlds which Agrajag, the reader, and all
sentient  beings are trying to understand." (Carl R. Kropf, "Douglas Adams'
'Hitchhiker' Novels", p.7-8)

 All  Arthur  can  do  is  to  claim  it  was  a  coincidence  and disclaim
responsibility,  God  can  only  "apologize  for the inconvenience" and DNA
reasonably,  but  also  tongue  in cheek, explains the 'interconnectedness'
between  all things and a lot about parallel universes and coincidences. At
the  same  time  he puts forward a relaxed view of life and how to make the
constant search for the meaning of it a little easier to the reader.

 Why  Carl  R.  Kropf  could not see that DNA not merely wanted to write SF
without any plan and seemingly inconclusive is easily explained by the fact
that  "Mostly  Harmless"  ties  up  many loose ends, best to be seen at the
logical  continuation  of  Arthur's vendetta against Agrajag, which finally
comes to an end and brings with it the forseeable end of the whole saga.


4. Other aspects of Douglas Adams
=================================

 Douglas  Adams'  rocket-like  career  was launched with Hitchhiker, but it
would  be turning a blind eye to his person if we only saw him as a science
fiction writer or more generally as a mere writer. But as he is most famous
for his writing, I want to give an overview of his other books.

4.1 Non-Hitch Hiker books
+++++++++++++++++++++++++

 DNA turned his hand to other fields of writing as well. He wrote two books
about  a  private investigator Dirk Gently, which are more complex and have
more  associations  and  generally can be described as more novel-like than
the  Hitch  Hiker  series as they are more conclusive and serious. They are
more  in  the  spirit  of  the  aesthetically  pleasing work that Aristotle
defined as comprising a beginning, a middle, and an end.

 "Dirk  Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" was written in 1987 and says on
its cover:

What do a dead cat, a computer whiz-kid, an Electric Monk who believes the
world is pink, quantum mechanics, a Chronologist over 200 years old, Samuel
            Taylor Coleridge (poet), and pizza have in common?

 Apparently not much; until Dirk Gently, self-styled private investigator,
   sets out to prove the fundamental interconnectedness of all things by
solving a mysterious murder, assisting a mysterious professor, unravelling
 a mysterious mystery, and eating a lot of pizza --- not to mention saving
 the entire human race from extinction along the way (at no extra charge).

To find out more, read this book (better still, buy it then read it) --- or
             contact Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency.

          `A thumping good detective-ghost-horror-who dunnit-time
            travel-romantic-musical-comedy-epic' --- the author

 "The  Long  Dark Teatime of the Soul" was written in 1988 and reads on its
cover:

 When a passenger check-in desk at Terminal Two, Heathrow Airport, shot up
through the roof engulfed in a ball of orange flame the usual people tried
  to claim responsibility. First the IRA, then the PLO and the Gas Board.
 Even British Nuclear Fuels rushed out a statement to the effect that the
  situation was completely under control, that it was a one in a million
 chance, that there was hardly any radioactive leakage at all and that the
  site of the explosion would make a nice location for a day out with the
 kids and a picnic, before finally having to admit that it wasn't actually
                     anything to do with them at all.

   No rational cause could be found for the explosion --- it was simply
designated an act of God. But, thinks Dirk Gently, which God? And why? What
  God would be hanging around Terminal Two of Heathrow Airport trying to
                         catch the 15.37 to Oslo?

Funnier than Psycho ... more chilling than Jeeves Takes Charge ... shorter
than War and Peace ... the new Dirk Gently novel, The Long Dark Tea-Time of
                                 the Soul.

 DNA  wrote "The Meaning of Liff" and "The Deeper Meaning of Liff" together
with  John  Lloyd,  a  producer  of  Blackadder  and various English comedy
series.  These  are  books that give meanings to place-names, and help find
words   for   situations   which   need  them.  They  are  structured  like
dictionaries,  but they explain words like buldoo ("a virulent red-coloured
pus   which  generally  accompanies  clonmult  (qv)  and  sadberge  (qv)"),
forsinain  ("the  right  of the lord of the manor to molest dwarfs on their
birthdays")  or  zumbo  ("one who pretends not to know that the exhaust has
fallen off his car").

 For completeness I wish to mention "The Utterly Utterly Merry Comic Relief
Christmas  Book"  DNA edited together with Peter Fincham. In 1990 DNA wrote
"Last  Chance to See" together with Mark Carwardine. A book which is listed
as  "Non-Fiction/Travel" quite accurately. Carwardine, a zoologist, and DNA
travelled  to  some remote places to photograph 'semi-extinct' species. DNA
once  called this book his most important one, presumably as he now acts as
a  guide  to  the world's endangered species. Certainly this book is highly
descriptive  writing  and  has  this  very  typical  and amusing style of a
Douglas Adams. The Times even calls it "an extremely intelligent book, once
the giggling has stopped." (Times, 3.11.90)

4.2 Pink Floyd
++++++++++++++

 On  28th  October  1994  Douglas Adams showed yet another most interesting
aspect  of  him  in  Earl's  Court, London. He performed together with Pink
Floyd  as  a  special-guest guitarist. He met with Pink Floyd for the first
time  "a  few years ago", he recalls, "because Nick Mason's second wife, an
actress,  was  taking  part  in a TV show produced by a friend of mine." He
describes his connection to Pink Floyd as "friendly, social."

4.3 Computers (i.e. Macintosh)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 Douglas  Adams  is  the rather proud owner of Apple Macintosh computers of
which  he  has  "lost count." He admits: "I have a well-deserved reputation
for  being  something  of  a  gadget freak, and am rarely happier than when
spending  an  entire day programming my computer to perform automatically a
task  that it would otherwise take me a good ten seconds to do by hand. Ten
seconds,  I  tell myself, is ten seconds. Time is valuable and ten seconds'
worth  of it is well worth the investment of a day's happy activity working
out a way of saving it." (Last Chance to See, p.36)

 "Computers,  of  course,  have  become  the  new displacement activity for
writers.  It  used  to  be,  if  you  had something to write, you'd get new
notebooks,  you  would  sharpen  your  pencils, clean the fridge and do all
that.  Nowadays you spend all day re-configuring your operating system and,
as  a  result  of  that  you begin to know a little bit about the buggers."
(Independent,  5.10.92)

 This  'little  bit'  has  got  him as far as to an offer which seems quite
incredulous  ("this  is really weird" is how he describes it) - he has been
asked to work for Apple's Advanced Technology Group in California for a few
months.


5. Conclusion - Douglas Adams, a comedy science fiction writer
==============================================================

 Considering  the  complicated  and quite funny plot of his Hitchhiker saga
and  keeping  in  mind  that  this  was  not  his only work, you can hardly
categorize  Douglas  Adams  as  a  mere  science  fiction  writer.  A  more
satisfactory  view of this author is that he occupies a very small niche in
the  literary  genres, namely comedy science fiction. His Hitchhiker novels
are  not only entertaining and funny, they are at the same time an approach
to  a  different  view of the meaning of life, the universe and everything.
DNA  succeeds  in  sustaining  his  amusing overtone without neglecting the
deeper  structure  of  his  complex creation. I go along with Carl R. Kropf
when  he  says  that DNA often reverses the conventions of science fiction,
which  creates  a certain amount of satirical quality, but there is more to
it,  DNA  sometimes  thinks  one  step ahead. He inverts only to be able to
invert again at some far later point in his stories, returning unexpectedly
to  the  track  he  was  previously  on.  This  confusing  procedure can be
explained when taking into consideration how DNA often writes his books.

 "Since  I had no grand plan in writing Hitch-Hiker's", he admits, "but was
simply  making  it up as I went along, I often painted myself into the most
terrible  corners.  At  one point I had carelessly thought that it might be
fun  to  have  Arthur  Dent and Ford Prefect thrown out of the airlock of a
Vogon  ship  without  spacesuits,  just to see what happens. Unfortuanately
(sic),  of  course, if anything was going to happen, I was going to have to
think of it. I got very stuck." (Radio Scripts, Footnotes II, p.51)

 Therefore  DNA  created  an  open-ended universe with seemingly no plan at
all. But with the final novel he provides us with all kinds of clues and in
a way compensates for the frustration the reader might sometimes experience
when  something  he  has  been  waiting  for  disappears  into thin air and
seemingly  is  completely forgotten. His mode of writing certainly develops
together  with  the  progress  of  the  Hitchhiker  plot. Between the first
appearance of the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy and the final show-down
in  "Mostly Harmless" nearly fifteen years passed and the Douglas Adams who
started off with nothing more than a few good and funny ideas has gradually
grown  into  a  serious writer who isn't afraid of pointing wittily at some
problems  of  everyday  life  as  well as carving deeper into philosophical
questions  which  continue  to stir the reader's thoughts when the cheerful
laughter of the first moment has faded away.

                      Anything that happens, happens.

   Anything that, in happening, causes something else to happen, causes
                         something else to happen.

 Anything that, in happening, causes itself to happen again, happens again.

       It doesn't necessarily do it in chronological order, though.

                  (Mostly Harmless, preliminary 'axioms')

 The  question  if  Douglas  Adams  is a science fiction writer or not will
finally  be  answered by him personally. He frankly answered my question if
he sees himself as a science fiction writer:

 "Well,  not really, though I suppose I am. I don't *feel* like one. All my
roots  are in the comedy world. I don't know any science fiction writers. I
tend to know comedy writers and scientists."