H2G2
Nicolas Botti : In France, there's no more popular radio series for now quite a lot of years. So there is one thing that French people cant understand : How can it be possible that what begun as a radio series became so successful?
MJ Simpson : In Britain, there is a long history of very successful radio series, especially comedy. The BBC is a state-funded broadcaster so it has to produce comedy and drama and documentaries on the radio. But even a phenomenally successful radio show has a tiny audience compared with TV or a book or a movie. HHGG only became truly successful when the book was published and went straight to number one on the bestseller lists.
NB : Douglas Adams got quickly fed up and unease with h2g2 success. It seems that there have been a lot of phases of love and hate. Why did he make five books, and was working on a sixth one?
MJS :Douglas said after every book that it was the last. It's not like today, when somebody signs a contract to write a trilogy, so everyone knows in advance that there will be three books. He had to be persuaded to write each book separately, because his publisher wanted it. The Salmon of Doubt was going to be a Hitch Hiker novel at one point but the version that is published in May is a Dirk Gently book.
NB : The five h2g2 books are not similar at all. The first two ones are closer from the spirit of the radio series. The third one fits uneasily after the two first ones because it concentrates on a plot that is not very h2g2 like. The fourth one is a book about a love affair and almost happens on earth only. The fifth one is darker than ever. Why such differences?
MJS : The books were written over a period of about 12 years, in very different circumstances. Lots of things changed: Douglas became more successful, he met Jane, he became interested in ecology, computers change completely, his father died, and many other things happened which affected how he felt and what he wrote about. He was never happy with the fourth book. Restaurant was his favourite of the five Hitch Hiker books.
NB : Douglas Adams seemed very uneasy with women characters mainly in the beginning. Trillian is less remarkable and clearly defined than the other characters.
MJS : There is a long tradition of British authors who could not write about women believably. Two classic British children's books which influenced Douglas were The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham (no female characters) and Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne (Kanga the kangaroo is the only female character). Funny female characters are very difficult to write (especially for male authors) unless they are scary old women.
NB : Why the answer to the ultimate question (42) has become so popular? What Douglas Adams thought of this popularity?
MJS : Douglas got very, very annoyed with people asking him about 42. It has no meaning - that is why it is funny. I think the idea became popular because it is such a simple explanation; it is an answer that everybody can remember, not like a complicated scientific formula. But there are secrets about how Douglas chose 42 as the best number - he didn't just think of it as he was writing. I will explain this in my book about him.
NB : Douglas wrote "The Guide has appeared in so many forms each time with a different story line that even his most acute followers have become baffled at times". Which version is the more original and weirder one?
MJS : Many people like the radio series best because that was the first version. Some people prefer the book because it is better constructed and has lots of ideas in it that weren't on radio. The weirdest version is probably the computer game!
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