Douglas Adams

English comic author sometimes compared to Terry Pratchett, most famous for his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. Adams died in 2001.

He developed a Pratchett-like idea in his novel The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (1988), where idiosyncratic private investigator Dirk Gently has to investigate a case involving the survival of the old Norse gods into the present day, and the nature of the dark pact they have to enter into to ensure their continued existence. This book echoes the Pratchett theme that a god may only survive so long as belief persists, and that there is no thing sadder than a god still doggedly hanging on after the need for him (or her) has ended.

The book also develops the concept of Thor (who is also encountered in Life, the Universe, and Everything (1982) as an otherwise unnamed Thunder God trying to pull Trillian at a party, and being outwitted by Arthur Dent) as an over-muscled and somewhat thick god with exaggerated body language.

Some concepts are shared by Pratchett and Adams in their respective science-fiction work, most notably a debunking of the utopian Star Trek ideal that greater technological sophistication confers greater wisdom and a pacifistic world-view.

It can justly be said that Arthur Dent and Twoflower share a common characteristic: both are ignorant wanderers in a strange and foreign world, but the difference is that Arthur Dent is painfully and continually aware of how dangerous it all is, and of how much the settled inhabitants view him with condescending derision. (Hey, monkeyman!) Twoflower is blissfully unaware of the dangers and ambles unconcernedly through life. While it is true Arthur Dent does not have the Luggage to defend him, he is equipped with the Babel Fish (the equivalent is Rincewind's ear for language) together with the resources embodied in Ford Prefect. Is Rincewind a parallel of Ford Prefect? Well, both have a vested interest in cheating death and running away from potential trouble by any means available. Just as Rincewind is constrained by the Patrician's expressed wish to keep Twoflower alive and well, Ford must keep Arthur alive, as the last living being from planet Earth who may know the Question to the Answer. In both cases, a genuine friendship (of sorts) exists.

See also

• Reading suggestions

External links

• The official Douglas Adams website
• Douglas Adams on Wikipedia
• Douglas Adams on Wikiquote
• h2g2 - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy