How Hitchhiker’s Guide dented author’s pride: Douglas Adams tore his masterpiece to shreds in notes to himself, new book reveals
- Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, tore his book to shreds in a note to himself
- He revealed his frustration with his books and their central characters in letter
- Adams wrote in unearthed letter: ‘Arthur Dent is a burk. He does not interest me’
The trouble with creating a cult radio series that spawned best-selling novels, television shows and video games is that other people might start to like your work more than you do.
This was the case for Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, who tore his masterpiece to shreds in a note to himself.
Revealing his frustration with his books and their central characters, Adams wrote in the unearthed letter: ‘Arthur Dent is a burk. He does not interest me.
Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, tore his masterpiece to shreds in a note to himself. Pictured: Adams on the set of ‘The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy’ BBC TV series in 1980
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
‘Ford Prefect is a burk. He does not interest me. Zaphod Beeblebrox is a burk. He does not interest me.
‘Marvin is a burk. He does not interest me. The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy is a burk. It does not interest me.’
The rant – to be published in a collection of letters, scripts, jokes and speeches from his archives – then turns into an imagined conversation with a giant dragon called Lionel.
In another note, Adams, who died in 2001 of a heart attack aged 49, shares advice he should have taken: ‘Writing isn’t so bad really when you get through the worry.
‘Forget about the worry, just press on. Don’t be embarrassed about the bad bits.’
The collection, to be published next year, is called 42: The Wildly Improbable Ideas of Douglas Adams, after the number that is supercomputer Deep Thought’s answer to life in the books.
The book has been developed in close association with Adams’s estate and family.
Publishers say notes in the crowdfunded book also show ‘Adams’ extraordinary ability to predict the future direction of technology’, from Kindles to the rise of multiplayer games like Fortnite.
The trouble with creating a cult radio series that spawned best-selling novels, television shows and video games is that other people might start to like your work more than you do. Pictured: David Dixon (left) and Simon Jones (right) in the classic sci-fi comedy series ‘The Hitch-Hikers Guide To The Galaxy’, written by Douglas Adams
The collection, to be published next year, is called 42: The Wildly Improbable Ideas of Douglas Adams, after the number that is supercomputer Deep Thought’s answer to life in the books
The late writer’s family said: ‘What Douglas loved more than a good idea was sharing a good idea, and whether it was the first or 100th time you had heard it, his obvious delight never diminished.’
The book’s editor Kevin Jon Davies said it was ’emotional’ to see Adams’ notes and that the archives mirrored his first meeting with the writer in 1978 with his ‘cluttered desk and his butterfly mind – draft pages, letters and notebooks, with inky crossings-out and ‘middles of thoughts’ – rich with comedic genius and some truly terrible typing’.
Mathew Clayton, head of publishing at Unbound, said the book – whose numerical title reflects the supercomputer Deep Thought’s answer to life, the universe and everything in the original Hitchhiker’s Guide – finds ‘a new way to unlock the archive of one of the most creative thinkers of the past half-century…
‘We wanted to make a book to enhance that legacy, to fix and reinforce Adams’s reputation as a philosopher and seer.
‘Thanks to the enthusiastic support and guidance of his family, we think 42 will do that – and crowdfunding it is exactly the sort of revolutionary strategy that Adams would have embraced.’