I’m not well read on Coleridge poetry, so I’m not sure exactly what happened at the end. From what I gather, Dirk interrupts Coleridge and prevents him from finishing the poem that inspired Michael to be possessed by the ghost, or something. And somehow the ghost ends up escaping in his ship? Someone explain please.
I’d explain it to you now, but my sofa seems to be stuck in my hallway. I have to figure out a way of getting it back out that doesn’t involve removing one of the walls.
It’s been a long time, but IIRC if Coleridge had finished Kubla Khan (the poem that he was working on when the “Person from Porlock” interrupted him), the universe would have collapsed. Or something.
I would go into more detail (esp. about the PfP myth), but I have to take a look at my answering machine—it’s been acting very strange lately.
As I understood it…
In the original timeline, the ghost (not yet a ghost at the time) made a mistake of some sort which destroyed his ship, killed his comrades, and provided the triggering event that began life on Earth.
Because of his guilt, the ghost hung around instead of dissipating, much as the ghost of the rich computer tycoon hung around until it could complete its last phone call (I think this is what they call “counterpoint” in the literary world?).
The ghost experienced a couple billion years of wandering the Earth, ‘living’ with his quilt and watching as the “slimy things with legs” rose up and evolved into intelligent life. By this time, he was, of course, quite mad.
Eventually, he managed to telepathically influence Coleridge, and somehow the complete version of “Kubla Khan” would trigger a reaction in Michael’s mind that allowed the ghost to make him use the “time-travel room” to go back and undo the ghost’s original mistake. This mistake, of course, was the creation of life on Earth, so he had to be stopped.
Since they couldn’t stop him from going back (he had already done so), they had to break the chain of events elsewhere, and they chose to do it by preventing the completion of the poem.
They also destroyed the mothership in orbit, but did bring back some of the “music of life” which it produced, giving it to Bach, who later released it as his own work. This explains why, upon returning, our protagonist had never heard of Bach… because Bach wasn’t famous in the original timeline.
That’s a good synopsis, Vlad…
It’s easier if you remember that the full title is Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, which implies that there is an interconnectedness to all things and events…
Now I have to go find that cat…
- Dirk
That’s a good synopsis, Vlad…
It’s easier if you remember that the full title is Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, which implies that there is an interconnectedness to all things and events…
Now, if you’ll kindly excuse me, I have to go find that cat…
- Dirk
I swear I hit “preview”…
Is it me, or are the two books in the series often overlooked, despite being totally freakin brilliant? What happened?
The whole cat, or just its front half?
Just to clarify, in reality (our reality) Kubla Khan is known as an unfinished poem. Near the beginning of Dirk Gently… it says something like “… and he went on to recite the second, altogether stranger part of the poem.” That was supposed to be a hint that there is something different about their reality.
As for the ghost, I think someone says “there are two of him now.” Meaning the ghost did manage to go to the past, but was unsuccessful in saving his ship and has to “live” through the slimy things with legs and all that again.
I’m not so sure about the bit about the albatross. Was it implied that Dirk inspired The Rime of the Ancient Mariner?
I’d love to answer you, but could you just open my refrigerator for me first?
Even a cleaning lady wouldn’t fall for that one!
The first Dirk book was, as this OP illustrates, really difficult to penetrate unless you already knew that in real life Coleridge had been interrupted by the Person from Porlock while writing Kubla Kahn and never finished it – and that the identity of the Person is one of the great mysteries of english literature. I figure this turned a lot of people off of the series from the start.
–Cliffy
Also, didn’t this story originally start its life as a Dr Who story - as in the Professor’s flat was really the TARDIS or something like that (I know that D Adams did do work on Dr Who for a while…)
tracer:
It was never possible for your sofa to get stuck in the first place.
Yes, it was originally filmed (but not completed) as a Dr Who episode, Shada. I have it on VHS and it’s… interesting. You can definitely see the book’s plot fairly well in tact, just with Dr Who instead of Dirk Gently.
Available at Amazon.
Don’t forget that Life, the Universe, and Everything (the first Hitchhikers’ book) was also originally intended as a Dr. Who storyline. Adams’ biggest problem there was that the Doctor was a proactive hero, while Arthur, Ford, and Zaphod are anything but, so he had to use Trillian and Slartibartfast to move the plot along.
Ah, dear old Slartibartfast. 
He won an award for his fjiords, you know.
And…
“Hurry up, Mr. Dent, or you’ll be late!”
“What’s the rush?”
“No, I mean you’ll be the late Arthur Dent. It’s a threat. I’m not very good at them…”
I must be the one who liked THE LONG DARK TEA TIME OF THE SOUL better than the first book.
‘THE GODS ARE WALKING THE EARTH! THE GODS ARE WALKING THE EARTH! Thank you!’
When you don’t have a towel, I suppose a quilt is the next best thing.