Douglas Adams: The Hitchhiker's Guide to Cambridge

 

Life along the River Cam in Cambridge, England

 

I wonder if anyone on Earth hasn't heard of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? While I've never listened to the original radio series, I've read Douglas Adams' novel--and watched the TV and movie adaptations--several times. I discovered this novel in my teens, and thought it was the coolest thing ever. As a member of the Science Fiction Book Club, I ordered each successive novel as soon as it was offered. Adams' story about Arthur Dent being whisked off Earth just before it's destruction with the help of his friend Ford Prefect, an interstellar hitchhiker and guidebook contributor--is indelibly inscribed upon my brain. 

For years, I've yearned to read the entire series again. Inevitably, I'd start with the best of intentions. Yet each time I read the first novel, other books forced their way into my hands, and I read no farther. This seemed strange as I remembered loving the novels so much. 

I might even go so far as to label the situation a paradox.

 

A busy street in Cambridge, England

This year, I vowed things would be different. To accomplish this, I broke my rule of never following one novel with another by the same author, and read each installment without allowing any other books to push their way into my hands. As a result, my memories of each individual novel may be a bit muddled, but I finished the Hitchhiker journey, and can now look back on the entire series as a whole.

The first novel, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, introduces us to Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect, a Humanoid who can pass for an Earthling. It also introduces us to Trillian. Arthur once met at a party, and liked her, but she left Earth with Zaphod Beeblebrox in his spaceship. After the destruction of Earth, all four end up on a stolen spaceship named the Heart Of Gold, along with a morose robot named Marvin. The first novel ends rather abruptly, and leads directly into the second. 

 

The Blogger in Cambridge, England

 

After reading the novel, it was interesting to reflect on the scenes and characters the filmmaker's included in their big screen adaptation, and how much of Adams' novel they changed to make their more cinematic.

Aside from its more spectacular elements, I wonder if Adams was decrying the notion of destroying the old simply to build something new. Key events early in the novel, which prompt Arthur and Ford to begin their journey, include the destruction of Arthur's home to build a highway bypass, and the destruction of Earth to build a hyperspace bypass. 

 

St. John's, Adams' college in Cambridge, England

Before writing this novel, Adams backpacked across Europe. Did he see modernization trends that disturbed him, and prompted him to write a novel about the need for preservation? If so, his time in the university town of Cambridge would have taught him to appreciate historic places.

Dragon Dave