# Arthur Dent, Pilgrim **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 31, 2012, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-pilgrim/623644 "2012-05-31T12:28:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-pilgrim/623644/1 "2012-05-31T12:28:30Z")
I was reading through the Penguin edition of John Bunyan’s classic, _The Pilgrim’s Progress_, and saw something I hadn’t come across before – one of Bunyan’s influences was _The Plain Man’s Pathway to Heaven_, written by preacher Arthur Dent and published in 1601. His wife owned a copy. Of course, _Arthur Dent_ is the protagonist in Douglas Adams’ _The Hitchikers’ Guide to the Universe_ and its sequels, which is probably much more familiar to denizens of this Board. I hadn’t known about the earlier Dent, but it’s altogether appropriate that he wrote a guide for Pilgrims, essentially, and Adams was probably familiar with this. Otherwise the choice of that particular name is Too Good To Be True. It’s kinda like when I learned that MST3K stole the name “Clayton Forrester” from the George Pal movie _War of the Worlds_, which made up that name for the character who was the originally nameless narrator in H.G. Wells’ novel. I’ve long said that it looks as if Adams got a big chunk of inspiration for THHGttG from Robert Sheckley’s novel _Dimension of Miracles_, but I hadn’t known about Arthur Dent at all before this.\* \*Adams, although he admitted to being a Shecklrey fan, claims that he hadn’t read _Dimension_ before he wrote THHGttG, and some folks on this Board claim there’s no similatrity. But consider – both books are about an Everyman who is suddenly pluxcked from his ordinary everyday existence and abruptly set in an interstellar culture that is remarkably like his own earth culture, writ large, with comically inept bureaucracies and aliens he can understand the language of. With his guide, he goes from place to place, often without a spaceship, encountering intelligent mouse-appearing beings, creatures who unexpectedly quote poetry (although Sheckley’s _orithi_ are very good poets, in contrast to Adams’ _Vogons_), and ultimately ends up at the planet of world-building aliens, talking to one of the ones who designed and built the Earth (and is inordinately proud of his contribution). (There’s no Deep Thought in the book, but there’s a very similar all-answering computer in another Sheckley short story. )That’s not just happenstance – it looks too much like influence to me. (How many SF books have you read where the hero talks to the Guy who Bult Part of the Earth?) If Adams didn’t read Sheckley, somebody mentioned elements of the plot to Adams. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-pilgrim/623644/2 "2012-05-31T12:43:10Z")
Any connection between these two Dents is infinitely improbable. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-pilgrim/623644/3 "2012-05-31T12:50:55Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Any connection between these two Dents is infinitely improbable. And therefore will probably occur on the _Heart of Gold_. I’m still looking for the old English book about spiritual journeys by Marvin the Paranoid Android. Or Zaphrod Beeblebrox. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-pilgrim/623644/4 "2012-05-31T12:58:56Z")
No cites, but I read somewhere that the character name was a coincidence. Adams stated that he hadn’t heard of the real Arthur Dent till after the Hitchhiker books were published. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-pilgrim/623644/5 "2012-05-31T13:04:17Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I’m still looking for the old English book about spiritual journeys by Marvin the Paranoid Android. Or Zaphrod Beeblebrox. The chances against that are a trillian to one. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-pilgrim/623644/6 "2012-05-31T13:07:36Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > No cites, but I read somewhere that the character name was a coincidence. Adams stated that he hadn’t heard of the real Arthur Dent till after the Hitchhiker books were published. His name is not important. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-pilgrim/623644/7 "2012-05-31T13:18:28Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > No cites, but I read somewhere that the character name was a coincidence. So you’re saying he skimped a bit on his preparatory research and thought that the name would be nicely inconspicuous? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-pilgrim/623644/8 "2012-05-31T13:19:30Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > No cites, but I read somewhere that the character name was a coincidence. Adams stated that he hadn’t heard of the real Arthur Dent till after the Hitchhiker books were published. It fits too well, and, like the Sheckley connection (which other folks have noted, as well), Adams denies it. I’m beginning to suspect that either a.) Douglas Adams was lying; or b.) Douglas Adams had an unusually retentive subconscious mind that didn’t tell his conscious mind where it got its ideas. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-pilgrim/623644/9 "2012-05-31T13:28:06Z")
It’s all down the the fundamental interconnectedness of all things. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-pilgrim/623644/10 "2012-05-31T13:46:04Z")
I believe Adams denies knowing about the previous Dent and his work in the published version of the original radio play scripts (will have to check my copy when I get home). I’ve always wanted to get a copy of the Dent and just let it sit on my bookshelf to blow people’s minds. ETA: Get yers [here](http://www.amazon.com/pathway-wherein-principal-families-hereunto/dp/B004SRSAW6/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338472066&sr=1-3)! ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-pilgrim/623644/11 "2012-05-31T22:10:50Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > It fits too well, and, like the Sheckley connection (which other folks have noted, as well), Adams denies it. > > I’m beginning to suspect that either a.) Douglas Adams was lying; or b.) Douglas Adams had an unusually retentive subconscious mind that didn’t tell his conscious mind where it got its ideas. IIRC, Zaphod Beeblebrox had the part of his brain which knew what was going on separated from his conscious brain. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-pilgrim/623644/12 "2012-05-31T22:16:01Z")
I remember seeing the name Arthur Dent, in a book on the history of books, and thinking, “His publisher wwasn’t named Zaphod, was he?” ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-pilgrim/623644/13 "2012-05-31T22:21:26Z")
I doubt Zaphod was interested in purveying the ramblings of a talking monkey man to others. (I’ve always wondered about that particular insult. Zaphod refers to Dent as a monkey man often in the books as an obvious slur against his evolutionary heritage. Zaphod’s not human so he clearly doesn’t share that heritage but he’s humanoid. His evolutionary heritage must bear some passing resemblance to Arthur’s even if just by chance, no? And why didn’t Arthur ever query Eddie about Zaphod’s history so that he could make his own, “Tough talk from a walking _flirr_!” or whatever?) ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-pilgrim/623644/14 "2012-06-01T01:22:23Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > It fits too well Really? I don’t really see much similarity between the two Dents? The names are the same, and they both are involved in books where the main character is on some sort of journey, but half the books in the English language involve some sort of journey. And Douglas’s Dent isn’t on any sort of spiritual journey or pilgrimage, he’s a refugee unwillingly forced to travel from place to place by events. And so far as I can tell, the 17th century Dent’s book isn’t even about a journey, its a dialogue about theological issues. If there isn’t any more specific similarity, I don’t really see any reason to doubt Douglas about the origins of the name. The connection between the two Dents seems so tenuous it doesn’t even seem like that good of a coincidence.