Understanding TLDTTOTS.
Julian Orbach
Yes, I have read the FAQ.
Yes, I have read TLDTTOTS more than once. Probably 4 or 5 times over
the last 4 years.
Yes, I am a Douglas Adams fan, despite some of my comments below. I
have the whole trilogy, and the videos, and the CDs, and the Meaning
of Liff, Last Chance to See, and even a copy of Liftarens Guide till
Galaxen, the Swedish version of HHGTTG. (No honestly, I do!)
All the page numbers below are from my hardback version (Heinemann) of
Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul.
I warn that there may be some spoilers below.
So where shall I start?
Why is it called Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul? I know that it is a
quote from Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged (Who hasn't contected me
yet; does any-one know how he is progressing?). But what relevance
has it to the plot?
Anstey's son is a boy addicted to TV. He has no creativity or
individuality (no soul?). What relevance has he to the plot?
WHY is Anstey's place completely soulless? (or should I say
"cobbleedly dthoulledth?")
Why does the eagle with the concentric rings on its wings swoop down
on Dirk? Dirk, at the point where he is attacked, has NO CONNECTION
to Kate, Thor or the North Sea (Yes, I do realise the eagle is the
pilot/plane that went missing.), except perhaps that he acted as a
medium to the eagle's wife.
Page 62, "Knew an Irishman once. Finn something. Told me a lot of
stuff I didn't need to know..." Is there some Norse mythology about an
Irishman named Finn that I haven't heard about? If not, what has it
to do with the plot?
Odin's personal assistant is Toe Rag. Why Toe Rag? It makes it sound
as though there is a real reason for the name, but I can't see it.
(Yes, I know Toe Rag is a derogatory expression, but I confess I don't
know its origins.)
What has the I CHING calculator got to do with the interconnectedness
of all things, especially the plot?
Dirk has his nose broken. The nurse (Sally Mills) tells him to get it
fixed. Why doesn't he?
Page 94, "Exactly. A very good way of expressing it. We are in the
business of of giving scholarships to people with particularly gifted
diseases." But it is a terrible way of expressing it. It implies
they are giving away their help for no cost. But the patient has to
re-imburse Woodshead (even it is after they die).
Page 112, What makes Odin stop when he comes to Kate in Woodshead?
What was so special about her? Is it the same property that makes the
eagle/pilot attack Dirk, and Thor insist on showing Kate Valhalla?
How does Toe Rag know her name? I mean, Odin is the King of all Gods,
and you have to know these things when you're king, but Toe Rag is but
a goblin (or troll? Perhaps more likely for a Norse monster?)
Page 156, In Norse legend, who protects the entrance to Asgard?
In Norse legend, who is Tsuliwaensis? Sorry, I don't have a
Scandinavian keyboard, so I won't even attempt the two dots above the
e. What relevance has she to the plot?
Page 113, Thor took Kate to the shack. Why did Thor take Kate. I
mean here is a God of Thunder, et al, a huge anthropomorphic
personification of thunder storms. Why does he need Kate.
Why were there eagles in Valhalla? What did they have against poor Dirk?
Page 230, Dirk acts as lawyer for "these immortal gods". When did
they decide he was to represent them? Then, page 234, he "went to tell
his new client that ..." So now it is singular? So is it just Odin, or
not? Or just some suffusion of yellow?
Page 231, "and maybe turn into a rat or something like some other
people he could mention." What is he talking about?
Page 239, What does Kate care how many stones there are in Wales? Why
make it a pre-condition?
A GUILT God? What sort of creature is that? I know it was produced
from Dirk's fridge, but how?
Page 183, So Geoffrey Anstey just takes this gibberish envelope and
stuck it behind the gold record award on the bathroom wall. Does this
imply he made his hit record before getting the "bill"? What did
Anstey do, then, to deserve this success? Was his success part of
"Odin's soul", or not?
On page 207, Tsuli. can tell immediately that Kate is a mortal. How
does Dirk last so long before he is caught out?
Now consider Kate. What real impact did she have on the plot? I mean,
the whole story would have proceeded quite happily without her. She
was quite superfluous. Why is she there at all?
I am looking forward to your answers.
Julian
-- Julian Orbach
-- jul...@cs.uq.oz.au
-- University of Queensland
-- Brisbane, Australia
PattiOS
writes:
about all the stuff that doesn't matter to the plot
i think that these things are so funny, because they don't have anything to do
with anything. don't you love it when dirk sends the cop upstairs to see the
son and tells him to be sure to turn off the tv? these are the things that made
me lol. Also, i have created a guilt god in my fridge, so i know this is not so
unusual. happy reading
Andreas Pettersson
> I have rather a lot of questions on TLDTTOTS, but
> before I start, I think I should establish my
> credentials.
Go ahead...
> Yes, I have read the FAQ.
Which FAQ?? Where could I get a copy?
> Yes, I have read TLDTTOTS more than once. Probably 4
> or 5 times over
> the last 4 years.
TLDTTOTS? Something I've missed... what's that?
> Yes, I am a Douglas Adams fan, despite some of my
> comments below. I
> have the whole trilogy, and the videos, and the CDs,
> and the Meaning
> of Liff, Last Chance to See, and even a copy of
> Liftarens Guide till
> Galaxen, the Swedish version of HHGTTG. (No honestly,
> I do!)
Oh yeah??!! So do I! You're the first english speaking person that spells
Liftarens Guide till Galaxen right (on Swedish!).
BTW, have you read Tack for fisken?
From Sweden with Love,
an...@sarah.ct.se
Sean M. Gallagher
Yeah, but with all the holistic references to the fundamental inter-
connectedness of all things, they probably fit in to the general scheme
of things somewhere. We just don't see where, and DNA probably didn't
think out some obscure way for them to fit into the overall whole. If
he did, he probably would have explained how they fit in the story,
sort of like he did with the Guilt God/fridge thing and the fortune
teller/eagle/pilot bit. Accept that everything, no matter how apparently
irrelevant, fits in somewhere, and you'll be much happier.
--
Sean Gallagher | "It was a bright cold day in April and the clocks were
gal...@rpi.edu | striking thirteen." -- George Orwell, 1984
Paul Osmond
jul...@cs.uq.oz.au writes:
>
>Why is it called Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul? I know that it is a
>quote from Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged (Who hasn't contected me
>yet; does any-one know how he is progressing?). But what relevance
>has it to the plot?
Why not? Why is the Bible called the Bible. Why is a dictionary called
a dictionary? What is 4 x 4. It sounds like one of those
"Well, I wrote it before - called be a book" ideas.
>
>Anstey's son is a boy addicted to TV. He has no creativity or
>individuality (no soul?). What relevance has he to the plot?
>
Hey that kid was FUNNY. Great parody of those mindless
kids who sit in front of the TV all day.
>Dirk has his nose broken. The nurse (Sally Mills) tells him to get it
>fixed. Why doesn't he?
Dirk has other things to do... Like be involved in a novel.
>
>Page 94, "Exactly. A very good way of expressing it. We are in the
>business of of giving scholarships to people with particularly gifted
>diseases." But it is a terrible way of expressing it. It implies
>they are giving away their help for no cost. But the patient has to
>re-imburse Woodshead (even it is after they die).
No, the people with the 'gifted diseases' dont pay - only the people
like Odin and co, who are wealthy contributors. They leave their estate
to Woodshead, which Woodshead uses to fund its research. (didn't you love
the ornaments!!)
>Page 239, What does Kate care how many stones there are in Wales? Why
>make it a pre-condition?
Did you ever have someone say "I know something you dont know" - and
then refuse to tell you. Seemed like this sort of reaction to me.
>A GUILT God? What sort of creature is that? I know it was produced
>from Dirk's fridge, but how?
It was established in the book that man makes his own gods by what he
believes. Dirks and his cleaning ladies efforts to make the other the
firt to open the fridge created the 'god' Why a guilt god.. I'll have to
reread that bit b4 I offer more opinions.
As for anything else, you can write it off to the interconnectivity of
everything. And also Dirk's knack of running into supposedly
meaningless coincedences that happen to him.
That answers some of your questions. I will make something even
more creative up if you like, to answer some of the rest.
Love that person who Dirk knows writes the horoscopes in the paper
purposely to annoy him. Great stuff.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Paul T. Osmond
Surgery Department
University Of Michigan Medical Center
Computer Systems Specialist
-------------------------------------------------------------
'I was born in a lighthouse, my mother was the sea.
I called school each morning, when it occurred to me
That life's just a mood ring we're not allowed to see
And this is what it said to me......
My room's comfortably small with rubber on the walls
And someone's always calling me name...
He calls when I'm alone
And he calls when I'm not home
And he calls when I'm stuck out in the rain.....
I'm insane..... I'm insane.......'
They Might Be Giants
HAROLD T LEONARD
> In article <2nr4o1$a...@uqcspe.cs.uq.oz.au> Julian Orbach,
> jul...@cs.uq.oz.au writes:
> >Dirk has his nose broken. The nurse (Sally Mills) tells him to get it
> >fixed. Why doesn't he?
I might be mistaken, but isn't he in a hospital of some sorts when he starts to
read the newspaper at the end.
:We Came We Saw We Went Back Home.
: H. Thomas "Snarf" Leonard III
James Jacoby
>> individuality (no soul?). What relevance has he to the plot?
>
> of vital importance to the plot. Its function is to amuse the
> reader, which is what the book (I guess) is trying to do.
Tsk! You should know better that! EVERY detail is of vital importance
to the plot in the interconnectdedness of all things. It's just that
none of us have a clue why it's there. And Douglas Adams probably thinks
he does, being the author and all, but he's probably deluded. But it
all makes sense SOMEWHERE.
--
/\/\ : gal...@loreli.ftl.fl.us : /\/\
\/\/ `~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~' \/\/
[ When you aren't looking, ]
[ this message is completely different. ]
Wolfgang Schelongowski
> > From jul...@cs.uq.oz.au (Julian Orbach)
...
> > Yes, I have read the FAQ.
> Which FAQ?? Where could I get a copy?
<Clickety-click>
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams,news.answers,alt.answers
Subject: alt.fan.douglas-adams FAQ
Date: 31 Mar 1994 12:00:12 GMT
Message-ID: <douglas-adams...@kauri.vuw.ac.nz>
Archive-name: douglas-adams-FAQ
...
If you haven't already done so, now is as good a time as any to read
the guide to Net etiquette which is posted to news.announce.newusers
regularly. You should be familiar with acronyms like FAQ, FTP and
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This FAQ is currently posted to news.answers and alt.fan.douglas-adams.
All posts to news.answers are archived, and it is possible to retrieve
the last posted copy via anonymous FTP from rtfm.mit.edu as
/pub/usenet/alt.fan.douglas-adams/douglas-adams-FAQ. Those without
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FTP by e-mail.
--
Wolfgang Schelongowski w...@xivic.bo.open.de
"If you don't look after knowledge, it goes away."
-- Terry Pratchett, The Carpet People
phild...@gmail.com
> quote from Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged (Who hasn't contected me
> yet; does any-one know how he is progressing?). But what relevance
> has it to the plot?
> Anstey's son is a boy addicted to TV. He has no creativity or
> individuality (no soul?). What relevance has he to the plot?
Nemo Thorx
For instance, I love how...
[a] this is a reply to a 1994 era post
[b] that original question was by Julian Orbach (thanks Google groups),
and that's an unusual name which would be quite memorable. Much more
memorable then the answer to the question of "when I first saw this
post, did I ask the Julian Orbach that I know if this was he, or did
I just imagine that that's the sort of thing I would do?"
[c] just how far off topic this reply thread has become so far!
.../Nemo
--
----------------------------------------- -----------------------------
earth native