Title: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
2. What made you interested in the author?
My interest in Douglas Adams spawns both from my interest in science fiction, as well as a critical article/biography written by Tim Wynne-Jones. The article displayed humour as well as subject matter presented by Adams in which I found compelling. Also as a result of his death in may of 2001 I found it fitting to read the his works as a tribute to a sorrily missed author and human being.
3. Brief background on the author
Douglas Noel Adams was born in Cambridge in 1952, the son of Janet and Christopher Adams. His mother was a nurse, while his father was a management consultant. The family moved to the town of Essex on the outskirts of London. When Douglas was 5 years old his parents divorced, which he said casted a shadow over his childhood, as a child he was thought to be educationally subnormal. Douglas Adams always had a high interest in music and at one point owned as many as thirty guitars. As a teen he was also very enthused with Monty Python, which jump started his interests in comedic writing. Adams went to St. John's College in Cambridge and achieved a masters degree in English literature. After graduation he became increasingly interested in the publishing of his own novel, and eventually would succeed in the crafting of a classic. When Adams finished writing, he then became interested in both the environment and zoology. However, because he was unqualified to do this alone he joined forces with a zoologist by the name of Mark Carwardine. Douglas Adams spent the remains of his life pursuing this interest before tragically dieing of a heart attack at the young age of forty-nine.
4. Other published works and genres
- Monty Python's Flying Circus Episode 45, Party Political Broadcast on Behalf of the Liberal Party (1972)
- The Private Life of Genghis Khan (1975)
- The Pirate Planet, a Doctor Who serial first broadcast in 1978
- City of Death, a Doctor Who serial, cowritten with Graham Williams, based on a story by David Fisher, first broadcast October 1979
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979)
- Shada (1979–1980), a Doctor Who serial
- The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (1980)
- Life, the Universe and Everything (1982)
- The Meaning of Liff (1983, with John Lloyd)
- So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish (1984)
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (computer game) (1984, with Steve Meretzky)
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Original Radio Scripts (1985, with Geoffrey Perkins)
- Young Zaphod Plays It Safe (short story) (1986)
- A Christmas Fairly Story [sic] (1986, with Terry Jones), and
- Supplement to The Meaning of Liff (1986, with John Lloyd and Stephen Fry), both part of
- The Utterly Utterly Merry Comic Relief Christmas Book (1986, edited with Peter Fincham
- Bureaucracy (computer game) (1987)
- Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (1987)
- The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (1988)
- Hyperland (TV documentary) (1990)
- The Deeper Meaning of Liff (1990, with John Lloyd)
- Last Chance to See (1990, with Mark Carwardine)
- Mostly Harmless (1992)
- The Illustrated Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1994)
- Douglas Adams's Starship Titanic (1997), written by Terry Jones (who insists he wrote the whole thing while in the nude), based on an idea by Adams
- Starship Titanic (computer game) (1998)
- h2g2 (internet project) (1999)
- The Internet: The Last Battleground of the 20th century (radio series) (2000)
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Future (radio series) (2001) final project for BBC Radio 4 before his death
- Parrots, the universe and everything (2001)
- The Salmon of Doubt (2002), unfinished novel manuscript (11 chapters), short stories, essays, and interviews (also available as an audiobook, read by Simon Jones)
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (film) (2005)
My interest in both the fantasy and science fiction genres of writing are the main components of my reasoning for choosing to read Douglas Adams' works. The other reasoning being that the book resides on the top 100 novels of the century list. I believe that the interest in both science fiction and fantasy spawns from an early introduction to it as a child. Even as a child I found stories and books intriguing and could easily read through even the longest of books. Like most teens of my age I believe that the Harry Potter series was what I got started with. However, I became more interested in science fiction and fantasy that was aimed towards adult audiences rather than teens. As these novels were able to present both underling values and morals in which a teen audience may miss.
6. Themes favoured by the author
The major themes in which Adams seems to focus on are: the absurdity of life, environmentalism, atheism, and technology. The absurdity of life is a constantly occurring theme in the novel in which Adams makes apparent through both jokes and satire. Environmentalism again is a theme in which Adams is not hesitant to show in the text. Adams also much enjoyed to study the environment and the animals inhabiting it, so it is not surprising for this to be a major theme in his writing. The question of god also appears in the text, and it did not surprise to find out that Douglas was an atheist. Lastly technology is a theme in which is not astounding to find in a science fiction novel. Adams imagines gadgets and technological devices in which many of us would never dream of.
7. Other authors compared to Douglas Adams
In the critical essay Lewis Carroll and Douglas Adams written by Ross Eckler, Adams is directly compared to the famous author Lewis Carroll (Alice in Wonderland). These two British authors who lived about a century apart are indeed alike in both writing styles, but also content. Ross goes on to explain how the number 42 is significant in both texts, and also presents other examples of similarities in the text.
8. Critical Articles (Secondary Sources)
1. WYNNE-JONES, TIM. "The Unravelling of DNA: Douglas Noel Adams, 1952-2001." The Horn Book Magazine 77.5 (2001): 628. General OneFile. Web. 2 Mar. 2011.
Document URL
2. Lewis, D. L. "Last Time Round the Galaxy," in Quadrant, September 1, 2002.
Source Citation
"Last Time Round the Galaxy." Student Resource Center. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2007. Student Resource Centre Canadian Edition. Web. 2 Mar. 2011.
3. Guttridge, Peter. "Obituary: Douglas Adams," in The Independent, May 14, 2001. Copyright © 2001 Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd. Reproduced by permission.
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