Dirk Gently's HDA - Monk and cave painting
David Dermott
Detective Agency, chapter 5.
The Electric Monk is looking for the Door (he eventually finds it) in
the desert, and sees a painting on a rock wall.
"It looked like a primitive hunting scene. The group of purple,
multi-limbed creatures were clearly early hunters. They carried
rough spears, and were in hot pursuit of a large horned and armoured
creature"...
...
"The Monk looked more carefully at the immediate environs
of the rock wall and noticed that, though not exactly in a
cave, it was nevertheless protected by a large overhang and was
well sheltered from the wind and rain."
There's 5 paragraphs about the painting. Does the painting have any
meaning? Or is just passing scenery?
--
David Dermott , Wolfville Ridge, Nova Scotia, Canada
email: der...@ns.sympatico.ca
WWW pages: http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/dermott/
pieceoftheuniverse
> I've never been able to figure out this scene in Dirk Gently's Holistic
>Detective Agency, chapter 5.
>
<snip the Electric Monk and the prehistoric painting>
> There's 5 paragraphs about the painting. Does the painting have any
>meaning? Or is just passing scenery?
Passing scenery.
You have to remember: this is Douglas Adams. He put stuff in that "seems
like a good idea at the time," mostly while trying to figure out how to
give the plot a good nudge in the proper direction -- once he figured
out what the proper direction is in the first place (second place (third
place))[2].
Unlike other authors who try to do this, he made these segue
entertaining enough that you don't realize that it's filler, and then
life goes on as normal and you never even realize that you've been
off-track. When these sort of things actually connect to later plot
points, he was as surprised as anyone else.
The Starship Titanic is an excellent example of this, as well as, well,
pretty much the entirety of both series.
--
pieceoftheuniverse - after all, the entire HHGG storyline started out as
a series radio plays of silly ways for the Earth to blow up.
[2] Obref alert!
Gehn21
David Dermott <der...@ns.sympatico.ca> wrote in message
news:Pine.LNX.4.10.10111...@ns.sympatico.ca...
> I've never been able to figure out this scene in Dirk Gently's Holistic
> Detective Agency, chapter 5.
>
> The Electric Monk is looking for the Door (he eventually finds it) in
> the desert, and sees a painting on a rock wall.
>
> "It looked like a primitive hunting scene. The group of purple,
> multi-limbed creatures were clearly early hunters. They carried
> rough spears, and were in hot pursuit of a large horned and armoured
> creature"...
> ...
> "The Monk looked more carefully at the immediate environs
> of the rock wall and noticed that, though not exactly in a
> cave, it was nevertheless protected by a large overhang and was
> well sheltered from the wind and rain."
>
> There's 5 paragraphs about the painting. Does the painting have any
> meaning? Or is just passing scenery?
>
world, or planet, as the prof. notes later on, look. Because there is a
later paragraph which explains how the monk looks and how it was imperitive
that electrtic monks look differently.
Gehn21
"I don't go to mythical places with strange men. You go. Call me up and tell
me how it went in the morning. Give him hell about the pepples."
David Dermott
> >
> <snip the Electric Monk and the prehistoric painting>
>
> > There's 5 paragraphs about the painting. Does the painting have any
> >meaning? Or is just passing scenery?
>
> Passing scenery.
>
> You have to remember: this is Douglas Adams.
That's what I was afraid of. The book was like putting a jigsaw
puzzle together:
There is this interesting piece with purple creatures on it.
"Hmm, I wonder where this piece goes?"
Then the book is finished, the jigsaw puzzle is all together and --
- THERE IS A PIECE LEFT OVER! Darn, i hate it when they throw in
extra pieces to fool you.
And about the "people" of the planet looking different than the monk.
I found more about that in chapter 2. The monk has 2 legs, one nose, one
mouth , 2 eyes and pinkish skin. He looks like a normal earthling.
The "people" of the planet have 17, 19 or 23 legs, one eye, several
mouths and purple, "crenellated"!! skin.
( A very STRANGE word to describe skin! It usually applies to slits
in fortress walls for shooting through)
pieceoftheuniverse
>> <snip the Electric Monk and the prehistoric painting>
>>
>> > There's 5 paragraphs about the painting. Does the painting have any
>> >meaning? Or is just passing scenery?
>>
>> Passing scenery.
>> You have to remember: this is Douglas Adams.
>
>That's what I was afraid of. The book was like putting a jigsaw
>puzzle together:
Well, if jigsaw puzzles could tell stories about going back in time and
how to feed dodos, yes.
> There is this interesting piece with purple creatures on it.
>"Hmm, I wonder where this piece goes?"
I belong right where I am, TYVM.
> Then the book is finished, the jigsaw puzzle is all together and --
>- THERE IS A PIECE LEFT OVER!
Yes, I'm frequently left over. Sometimes left aside, left asunder, and
sometimes just plain left. As you may or may not have heard, I've
installed a second arm on my right side so at least these sorts of
things will balance out.
>Darn, i hate it when they throw in extra pieces to fool you.
In jigsaw puzzles I'll admit that sort of tactic is just plain mean. But
Douglas Adams ... well, he's not doing it to confuse you, or to
introduce random elements that go nowhere.
There are two ways to write -- or, I should say, two ways that I know
of. The first way is by far the most popular, though not necessarily the
best: sit down, think about where you want to go, and then write your
way there. This makes for nice, structured books that look very pretty,
and the plot pretty much travels in a straight line. People like
straight lines.
The second way is to have a general vagueness of an idea of where you
more or less want to go, breath life into your characters, and then try
to point them down the right path. This kind of author doesn't structure
anything, and so often goes down a particular road because the flowers
look pretty (if you'll excuse my milking the metaphor of the simile cow
on this country lane). The side-path rarely has anything to do with the
journey, which, in this case, is just a fun story about some bloke who
was bad with relationships and thus found out the nature of life on
Earth.
In the first way, once you're done with the story you're pretty much
done for good. Any sequels you write will either be forced or way past
deadline, or both, because the second and third installments will
require as much structure and solidity as the first lest folks think
you've lost your touch. In the second way, you can take one of the
things you mentioned whilst you were on a primrose path and use that as
the underlying basis of a sequel -- or, if you're feeling adventurous,
go down a separate way altogether.
> And about the "people" of the planet looking different than the monk.
>I found more about that in chapter 2. The monk has 2 legs, one nose, one
>mouth , 2 eyes and pinkish skin. He looks like a normal earthling.
>
> The "people" of the planet have 17, 19 or 23 legs, one eye, several
>mouths and purple, "crenellated"!! skin.
> ( A very STRANGE word to describe skin! It usually applies to slits
>in fortress walls for shooting through)
Descriptions with Douglas Adams have much the same effect as a
random-word generator, but with slightly more sense being made -- by the
generator.
The best way to deal with the whole kit & kaboodle is to not take it
seriously. Unlike most books, Adams isn't trying to deliver a message or
try to make you think in new and different ways; he's just writing for
the fun of it, and you have to read in that sort of mood to get the full
effect.
If Dirk Gently was your first-ever leap into the mind of Douglas Adams,
then might I suggest _Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy_ and _Restaurant
at the End of the Universe_. These two books (which, really, should be
one) have even more side-paths and mind-boggling descriptions which
makes Dirk Gently look like an Ernest Hemmingway novel.
--
pieceoftheuniverse - that should scare away any remnants of sanity that
you have left.
five_PM
> pieceoftheuniverse - that should scare away any remnants of sanity that
> you have left.
geez, it sure scared away the rest of my sanity. but i think that was a
good thing, coz those lil bits were getting sorta lonesome....