The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams is a novel that is at once frivolous and profound. It hides pertinent comments on society behind a thicket of snarky gags and jokes. It drives its point home by making sure the reader is almost always caught off guard. And as often as Adams pulls off this stunt, the reader (or at least this reader) falls for it again and again. This novel is the first of a five-part trilogy (that's not a mistake) which spanned the 1980's, a decade which had grim tidings for most all of us on this planet Earth. When this novel was written (based upon a radio play on the BBC) it was a time when the world was under constant threat of nuclear devastation and was reminded of that on a nigh daily basis. Absurdity was a proper response to this situation, that or nihilism or simple forgetfulness. I'll take absurdity for two hundred please.
If by chance you don't know the story, it goes as follows. An Earthman named Arthur Dent is saved by an alien named Ford Prefect (who is working to update the titular Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy) just before the Earth itself is demolished to make way for an intergalactic bypass. Arthur and Ford then are whisked into a series of misadventures which bring them in contact with the two-headed alien and runaway President of the Universe, Zaphod Beebelbrox and a lovely Earth girl named Trillian, on their stolen spaceship the Heart of Gold. Also, on board this most fascinating ship is Marvin, a depressed robot who performs his duties with maximum complaint and weariness. They end up on Magrathea, a planet on which all other planets were manufactured and meet Slartibartfast, a technician who worked on the fiords on Earth and is now helping to rebuild the planet Earth. It turns out the Earth was not what we all thought but was built for a specifice purpose, a purpose frustrated when it abruptly destroyed.
While we spend time most of these characters, Arthur is our point of contact. He is the "Alice" figure in this interstellar wonderland, and his world-weary perspective is the one that matters to us as the insanity unfolds page after page. I am loathe to reveal to many of the book's secrets, but the joy of reading is the snide asides and references to concepts which toast the reality we all take for granted. But the saga doesn't end here, next our intrepid protagonists head to the Restaurant at the End of the Universe. But that's for next time.
In the meantime. follow the advice on the cover of the The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and "Don't Panic".
Rip Off
The novel wasn't based on a play - it was the novelisation of a six-part radio series called "The Hitch-hikers Guide To The Galaxy" which was broadcast on BBC radio in early 1978.
ReplyDeleteI thought I said radio play, which to my mind is the same as the six-part series you mentioned. I know there were parts, but I appreciate you honing the point.
Delete