Since the 1979 publication of British humorist Douglas Adams’ comedic science fiction novel The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which follows a group of eccentric characters journeying around the galaxy after the Earth is destroyed, fans have gleefully quoted the witty jokes and one-liners found throughout the book and its sequels.  However, despite the series’ enormous popularity, its deconstructive approach to the science fiction genre and existential philosophical foundation are not discussed as often as Adams’ distinctive writing style and humor. This essay will focus on literary criticism of the philosophical aspects of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series, as well as how it subverts expectations of the science fiction genre to further its absurdist themes.

Douglas Adams already had a significant background in writing science fiction and comedy when he wrote The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. After receiving a master’s degree in English literature, he established himself as a humorist by writing for the comedy troupe Monty Python and as a science fiction writer by writing scripts for the television show Doctor Who (Wynne-Jones 2001). As such, he was highly familiar with the traditional structure and themes of a science fiction story, as well as how comedy could be used to poke fun at society. He used this experience to write The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which was initially a popular radio play and television series of the same name. According to the American Humanist Association’s 2007 biography of Adams, they were written with the purpose of entertaining science fiction fans with their quirky sense of humor and unexpectedly philosophical subversions of the science fiction genre. The novel The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was published in 1979 and written for commercial purposes. Knowing that his work had become popular among the public, Adams wrote a novel that expanded on the social commentary and philosophical themes of the original radio and television shows. Adams also wrote four sequels, and the series is collectively referred to as The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy as well.

Existentialism, as described by the scholar Kevin Perry in his 2015 book Philosophy, is a philosophical approach based on the idea that there is no intrinsic meaning to the universe. Thus, human existence has no higher meaning, but via free will and self-awareness, an individual sense of meaning can be constructed. From existentialism, the philosophies of nihilism and absurdism are derived. Nihilism posits that since there is no meaning to existence, any attempt to construct one is pointless and irrational. Absurdism, however, proposes that although life has no meaning, the search for it can bring people fulfillment and happiness. The French absurdist philosopher Albert Camus argued in his 1942 essay “The Myth of Sisyphus” that “[if] there is a personal fate, there is no higher destiny, or at least there is but one which [an individual] concludes is inevitable and despicable. For the rest, he knows himself to be the master of his days” (78). Through the acknowledgement of the lack of a greater meaning to life, absurdism proposes, one can find freedom over one’s own fate.

What sets The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy apart from other comedic science fiction is the absurdist philosophical perspective it takes. Adams believed that the universe was not controlled by a higher power and that instead of feeling nihilistic dejection about this, people should instead be glad that they had the freedom to make what they wanted of their lives without being bound to any specific destiny (American Humanist Association 2007). The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy reflects this view by portraying humans’ search for meaning as futile, leaving the characters free to enjoy a life with no higher meaning.

Absurdist literature such as The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy uses various literary devices that include unpredictable plot structures, unconventional dialogue, and odd characters. As described by the literary scholar Jiang Zhu, absurdist literature tends to emphasize satirical themes via abstract dialogue based in ridiculous logic, as “communication between human beings is ... shown in a state of breakdown [as a] satirical magnification of the existing state of affairs” (2013). A scene in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in which God disproves His own existence through a strange but logical argument exemplifies this parody of traditional logical structures, which many absurdists feel are no longer applicable in an illogical world. In another scene, a character claims that “the chances of finding out what really is going on [in the Universe] are so absurdly remote that the only thing to do is to say hang the sense of it and just keep yourself occupied" (Adams 1979 134). The character proposes making peace with the lack of inherent meaning to existence in an unexpectedly casual manner that disorients the reader. The literary techniques emphasized in absurdist literature satirize modern life while also furthering arguments in favor of accepting the meaninglessness of the universe.

Douglas Adams’ writing style, as characterized by the linguist Will Nediger, is full of wordplay, witty asides, and tangents unrelated to the story (Nediger 2005). This humorous writing style prevents the serious aspects of the storyline from being taken seriously, as Adams often reminds the reader that the events of the series are not particularly important and takes long breaks from the central characters to describe random events that occur around them. At one point in the first book, a character expressing mild confusion after a misunderstanding in a conversation leads the narrator to describe an interstellar war; both events are treated with the same importance. By depicting events that occur both on a grand and a miniscule scale as equally deserving of the readers’ attention, Adams emphasizes the idea that in a vast and meaningless universe, nothing intrinsically has more importance than anything else. This lack of focus comes at the cost of deeper characterization and storytelling; many of the characters in the series are flat and underdeveloped, and the storylines can be contrived, as Adams frequently allowed his fans’ opinions about which characters were the most entertaining to influence his decisions about which of them to include in the next book (Stanley 1996). Although these weaknesses of Adams’ style became more evident as the series continued, its shortcomings are usually overlooked in favor of the unique humor and mature philosophical ideas expressed throughout.

What consistent storyline can be found in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy involves various characters journeying through outer space and attempting to find meaning in a chaotic and confusing world, frequently becoming distracted or giving up along the way. They never find an answer that satisfies them, but some find fulfillment in other ways, reflecting the absurdist ideal of coming to terms with the lack of a higher meaning to existence. Two characters, Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect, search for the “Meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything”, which is found to be the number 42. They try to find the ‘Ultimate Question’ that will allow them to understand what the number 42 actually means, and find an equally useless explanation: 42 is, apparently, six multiplied by nine. This humorously incorrect calculation is the ultimate meaning, prompting Arthur to remark that “that’s it. That’s all there is” (Adams 1980 306). Even if their universe has a meaning, it is one that is totally incomprehensible and does not enrich them in any way. Arthur abandons his quest for meaning, believing it to be futile, and settles down on a planet full of breathtaking natural splendor, where he lives without being troubled by philosophical worries. Here, Douglas Adams portrays obsession over a seemingly meaningless universe as pointless, but he offers an alternative to it: embracing a lack of higher meaning and the freedom of will that that implies. With no higher destiny to fulfill, Arthur can relax in a beautiful paradise.

Another character, Marvin the Paranoid Android, a hyper-intelligent robot with total awareness of his own insignificant place in the universe, adopts a nihilistic worldview that drives him to a state of depression and constant misery. At one point, he claims, “‘I talked to [a] computer at great length and explained my view of the universe to it; ... it committed suicide,’” (Adams 1979 183). The literary scholar M. A. van der Colff suggests that, through Marvin, Douglas Adams is warning against nihilism, much as Albert Camus did. Marvin “eats his way further into the rampant nothingness at the world's core” because “instead of celebrating life in its everyday form, Marvin dwells in existential despair” (van der Colff 2008). Through Marvin’s overwhelmingly bleak worldview, Adams makes it clear that even though his writing does not acknowledge a higher meaning to life, nihilistically interpreting this lack of meaning as a reason to lose hope is self-defeating, and the best way to deal with it is to find one’s own personal source of meaning.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy also uses elements of science fiction, a genre that can be defined by the way it examines the effects of technology to explore the nature of the real world. According to the science fiction critic Paul Kincaid, it involves “not just stopping the world to look at it differently” but also “playing with the different ways it can be perceived” (Kincaid 2010). As such, many works of science fiction address concerns about the role of humanity in the universe. Usually, science fiction emphasizes the importance of humanity. It “celebrates the triumph of the human spirit, as personified by a hero of epic proportions, over seemingly impossible odds” (Kropf 1988). In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams subverts science fiction’s glorified view of humanity and technological advancement from an absurdist perspective. According to his philosophical approach, humankind is not particularly important or special, and with this in mind people should live their lives in search of their own personal sense of meaning.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy criticizes science fiction’s traditional celebration of human mastery over destiny by suggesting that there is no such thing as fate or a higher meaning to life. The pioneering science fiction author Stanislaw Lem stated that the genre “reports on mankind’s destiny, on the meaning of life in the cosmos, on the rise and fall of thousand-year old civilizations” (qtd. in Kropf). However, Adams presents these grand concepts as punchlines. Throughout the series, characters who search for answers to their questions about “the meaning of life in the cosmos” never find fulfillment. In one incident, Arthur Dent embarks on a journey to discover the message God left to His universe before abandoning it. After a long, perilous quest, he finds it: "We apologize for the inconvenience" (Adams 1984 610). Arthur feels relieved once he reads this, because he realizes that his questions about higher meaning will never be answered. This provides closure to him, because now he knows that he should just give up. In this way, Adams suggests that “[if] we stop searching for greater meaning and for something new or other to solve things, maybe we can look at reality and discover new aspects of what we have” (Opdahl 2013). By subverting the philosophy usually associated with science fiction, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy strengthens its own message.

One purpose of science fiction, as proposed by the literary critic Istvan Csicsery-Ronay Jr. in his 2008 book The Seven Beauties of Science Fiction, is to reflect on how technological developments can transform society. However, Adams portrays a galaxy in which, despite the development of time travel, sentient robots, personal spaceships, and countless other innovations, society remains unchanged (Stanley 1999). Douglas Adams suggests that technology alone cannot change a shallow, self-centered society; the quick solutions science fiction offers to the problems society faces cannot bring about real change. As absurdism refuses to accept the existence of a God manipulating events and instead insists on personal responsibility, Adams forces society to take responsibility for its own fate.

Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker Guide to the Galaxy series presents a compelling argument for absurdist philosophy that incorporates a subversion of traditional science fiction conventions and a distinctive writing style. Through its memorable humor and wordplay, it introduces readers to a new perspective that opposes many elements of the science fiction genre while also providing an insightful image of modern society. The series has reached adoring fans and fascinated literary scholars, all of whom are captivated by its effortless blend of madcap humor and thoughtful commentary.