This book is a survey of typical Science Fiction elements in Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Christian Erkenbrecher first goes through a short history of Science Fiction and identifies certain motifs of the genre in order to correctly place the novel within a useful context. Classical elements of the Science Fiction canon are identified in the novel and scrutinized. It becomes clear that Douglas Adams was fully aware of the SF burden and we can see how its elements are used in order to create both humour and criticism. The question of whether social criticism can be applied purposefully in SF will be asked. Other big questions which are posed (and answered?) in Hitchhikers are also taken into consideration: Is there a god? Will the breakdown of communication barriers between races put an end to all wars? Can the advancement of technology prevent us from destroying ourselves? Follow the author on his way through Douglas Adams’s wholly remarkable book and see how this exceptional hitchhiking playwright and atheist writer enriched the world with his unique prose.

Textprobe: Chapter, 2.3.9 Space Opera: Due to its significance for Hitchhiker’s, the theme of space opera will be discussed more elaborately than the preceding templates. The expression space opera” was coined by Wilson Tucker in 1941 due to analogy to two different TV formats, i.e. horse opera (Westerns) and soap opera (TV serials of low sophistication, originally produced for housewives). According to Gary Westfahl, three characteristics define space opera first of all, a space-ship is needed. However, the story not necessarily has to be set completely on board the ship. He points out that even narratives occurring on the surfaces of alien planets must have nearby spaceports, creating the possibilities of departures to or arrivals from other worlds”. Secondly, space operas traditionally tend to be exciting adventure stories, which picture a richly populated universe. Between the races inhabiting the respective universes, conflicts occur which often culminate in war. The focus on the military side of the tales is evident throughout all space operas. Interestingly, the most widely known saga classified as space opera is called Star Wars. The third aspect of the template space opera” Westfahl mentions is the tendency of space operas to succumb to formulaic plots and mediocrity”. Similar to soap-operas, which are presented as a serial, every successful space opera spawned sequels the so-called father of the space opera is E. E. Doc” Smith, who published his Skylark of Space in the pulp-magazine Amazing Stories. The story features the cliché ingredients like interplanetary space travel and scientific double-talk, combined with simple love-story elements. Despite its low literary quality it was very successful among the readership of Amazing Stories. Thus, Smith went on to write two sequels to Skylark initiating the Golden Age of classic space opera”. In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the three characteristics of space opera established by Westfahl can easily be recognized. The inevitable spaceship is represented by The Heart of Gold, the ship Zaphod Beeblebrox stole and on which the journey to Magrathea is made. Westfahl’s second point, the adventurous plot and the occurrence of conflicts in space, can also be confirmed to be obviously evident in the story. Without taking the literal quality of Adams’s creation into consideration, the text can be identified as a typical space opera due to the occurrence of the third characteristic, i.e. a formulaic plot. The fact that this was done on purpose by Adams, and why will be subject of discussion in the forthcoming analysis. The classification of Hitchhiker’s as a kind of space opera is validated by both David Pringle and Gary Westfahl. However, both writers distinguish and emphasize the special focus the novel has on the theme of space opera: The ideas and themes of early space opera are mercilessly parodied in Douglas Adams’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy […]”. Westfahl even calls Hitchhiker’s the outstanding example of satirical space opera” and describes it in the Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy as epic, comic space opera that uses the freedom of science fiction to highlight by exaggeration the absurdity of human existence”. Confirmed by the preceding argumentation, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy qualifies as a type of space opera. However, the characteristics of the novel which parody rules” and firmly established conventions of science fiction writing led to its classification as what Pringle calls comic infernos”.

• Science Fiction

• Social Criticism

• Douglas Adams

• Hitchhiker

• English Literature

Christian Erkenbrecher was born in Coburg, Germany in 1981. He completed his studies of English literature at the University of Bayreuth in 2008 acquiring the title of Magister Artium (M.A.). Throughout his studies the author developed a strong fascination with utopian/dystopian literature and Science Fiction. The combination of those interests with a penchant for British humor inevitably led him to Douglas Adams’s most important novel, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Proving a deep fascination with the topics of Hitchhiker's, the author wrote this book in Bayreuth, Coburg and while hitchhiking through New Zealand in 2007-2008.