Homer and The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy: A Study in Pretension

     At this point, it may be noted that I am writing on an utterly ludicrous thesis, alleging that a beloved comedy has dark designs against western thought, pulled from one of the greatest and perhaps most wicked author of the ages. However, I am guaranteed freedom of speech. On the web I have perfect anonymity. You cannot stop the endless floods of nonsense!!!!!

     Ah the power...

Upon reading The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, one is struck by the similarities between the main character, Arthur Dent, and the Homeric hero, Odysseus. Like Odysseus, Arthur is pulled from is peaceful life into a series of riotous adventures, through new and colorful locals which would make his own home seem positively dull by comparison if it weren't for the fact that it was in fact dull to begin with. Also like Odysseus, he only wishes to go home, no matter what wondrous world's he finds. As the novel Mostly Harmless makes clear, he wants to feel that he is in his place. To this end, he treks across space, time, and multiple universes to find the home he lost, even if it is as dull as ditchwater.

Next, the underlying cosmology of the The Hitchhikers Guide is founded on nonsense. It affirms with Homer and Hesiod that the world is fundamentally chaotic. One would be tempted to add hostile, but that implies rather to much purpose in the dithering whims of the cosmos. The entire universe feels like the dream of a drunken lunatic. It deliberately does not make sense. There is really no purpose to the lives of any of the characters. They are all doomed to die, or worse, live forever in that mad house that passes for a cosmos. This grim outlook is reflected by the unfortunate outcome of the series in Mostly Harmless.

The Hitchhikers Guide diverges from Homer the most in that it communicates through comedy rather than epic poetry. Still the power of comedy must not be underestimated. Aristophanes' jokes helped get Socrates killed. Beware the subtle undermining of values. With such writers, the divine is not denied, it is simply made contemptible. By such malignant forces was Greece corrupted, Rome eroded, and the Bubonic Plague initiated.

In all seriousness, the series was an enjoyable read, and pretty funny in parts. It was also profoundly disturbing.