Books
May 9, 2024

That borders on blasphemy

When space came to Wexford on a friendly day in August 2008, Eoin Colfer had said no. In fact, he had opened his blue eyes in alarm and said, "No, no, no, oh no, no, no, no, I'm not." I'm fine, my writing career is going well, I have 16 million Books Sold - Why Should I Do this To Me? " Eoin Colfer had a phone in his hand when he said that, at the other end was his agent in London, who had offered him an insane offer just seconds before: he was to make a sixth volume for the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series write. The work of the brilliant author Douglas Adams continues. Supply millions of "hitchhiker" fans worldwide. The Irishman Colfer, who claims of himself that he is never lacking in imagination, can basically imagine everything. Not with the best of intentions.

Who will hide behind a chair back there? Eoin Colfer in the legendary "Egg Chair" by Arne Jacobsen, designed in the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" style

You can understand him. You do not even stand up as an author and say, "The 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy ends somehow out of round, there must be a fourth book ago." Nobody would conjure up an eighth Harry Potter band, not even Joanne K. Rowling. To attach a fifth gospel to the Bible? That would cause quite a stir among the Christians. And these comparisons are not exaggerated: "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" is not just a literary cult in Generation 40 plus - the series and its creator Douglas Adams are so unrestrainedly worshiped by tens of millions of people across the universe that it's almost religious Trains carries. The first and eponymous volume of the series appeared in 1979 in England, the last - in German "Once Rupert and back" - 1992. Well over 20 million books have been sold worldwide, there is a radio play, a television series and a movie. The Englishman Douglas Adams has made himself and his fans with these books a spectacular sci-fi universe, which is hard to beat in a weird and profound comedy. The protagonist is Arthur Dent, a pale, boring Englishman who one day realizes his planet is being blown up by an obnoxious space people, for an interstellar bypass. Fortunately, his gruff friend Ford Prefect turns out to be an alien, thanks to his help Arthur survives as one of two people. Ford also works as a reporter for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the most successful book in the universe, which now provides Arthur with valuable information about his new environment. This is followed by a restless, nonsensical, nonstop journey through the expanses of space, through parallel universes and time dimensions (in which the earth is unfortunately repeatedly destroyed), accompanied by the narcissistic president of the galaxy, Zaphod Beeblebrox, his depressive robot Marvin, and the second human survivor Tricia McMillan, hunted down by the bureaucratic Vogons, who conscientiously bring an end to every mission, and who is ready to eradicate all earth's habitation, is not finished yet. To the bitter end of volume five. There suddenly seems to be no rescue. It is a dark, sad, hopeless end to a series whose wit and sparkling imagination has changed the reading and writing of so many people. Douglas Adams was not happy with that himself. He wanted to write a sixth volume, one that would become more conciliatory, with a positive ending. And then he died dead at 49, a heart attack, in a gym in Santa Barbara. That was on May 11, 2001.

Eoin Colfer is not a brave man

Seven years later, Adams' agent considered what to do in 2009 to mark the 30th anniversary of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". He was thinking aloud, and by coincidence a colleague was present, the agent of Eoin Colfer. Since the beginning of the millennium, her client has made a name for himself as a particularly original author of youth books, his series on the genius of adolescent gentleman criminals Artemis Fowl has sold almost as well as the "Hitchhiker" books. She asked, "Why does not Eoin write the sixth book?" The agent was immediately unleashed for this idea, grabbed a couple of books from Colfer, flew to California and rang the doorbell of Jane Belson, the widow of Douglas Adams. He talked about the idea of a sixth volume, and that he could wonderfully imagine Colfer as the author of having a few books here that he could leave behind. That, said Jane Belson, was not necessary. She and her daughter would have read everything from Eoin Colfer anyway and yes, that was really a great idea.

The plot of the novel? Next thing ...

A little later, the phone rang in Wexford, a small, charming town in southeastern Ireland, and Eoin Colfer said no. It seemed a sacrilege to him, for it was about the legacy of Douglas Adams, the genius, the cross-head, the visionary. Colfer thought of the shark tank he had to leap into, right into the midst of fanatical "hitchhiker" fans. People on the street loud "42!" call and guaranteed reaps approving jubilation - "42" is in the first book, the answer to the question of the meaning of life, the universe and the rest, the computer Deep Thought finally spits out after several million years of reflection. (Just that nobody can do anything about it because it's as precise as it is cryptic.) These people around the world celebrate the Towel Day on May 25 each year - the most important rule for space hitchhikers : always have a towel with you. And they sign their letters with "Do not panic!", The well-intentioned advice that stands on the back of the original "Anhalter".

Eoin Colfer is not a brave man, he himself says. That his no after two weeks of thinking time was finally a yes - "honestly, that still amazes me even". But after the first shock, the realization slowly seeped into his consciousness that he got the chance to enrich a piece of world literature here. But still, "It was not that kind of decision that made you completely convinced, I often woke up in the morning and I thought, lousy idea, very bad idea, sometimes I still think so, but my nervousness is not good reason not to do something. " Colfer is 44 years old, but he would also go smoothly for ten years older. He's short and slender and gray in the first place: his hair, his friendly, wrinkled, gray face. He moves inconspicuously, even succeeds in not attracting attention when he is in Wexford, this city with its not even 9000 inhabitants, whose most famous son he is. Colfer used to be a teacher, also abroad, in Saudi Arabia, Italy, Tunisia. In 2001, the first volume of the "Artemis Fowl" series was released. And that changed his life completely. Suddenly he could live on writing, well, even live a dream. He does not go to school any more in the morning, but sends only his two boys of six and twelve years there, gives his wife and sweetheart Jackie a kiss and walks into the extension of the house, for at least six hours. There writes Eoin Colfer, designing a world under the Earth's crust or in remote spiral arms of the galaxy.

The characters are not exactly crazy

In August 2008 he started with "And by the way, something ...". He could have had the notes of Douglas Adams, who had made this the sixth volume. Colfer did not want her. "I had an idea for the 'hitchhiker' very quickly, because I thought about it 15 years ago - the fifth book of Adams ends so unsatisfactory that I had already wondered how it could go on," says he. As liberating, he felt that he was able to work with existing staff in already-spun relationships, says Colfer. But he did side by side, such as the Wowbagger-a life-weary immortal who is famous for traveling from planet to planet, insulting people as badly as possible, in the hope of having someone kill him for it , Or Thor, a God looking for a job, which is quite difficult due to a compromising internet video. New is the Irish head of administration Hillman Hunter, who is projecting an earth-like planet and just wants to hire a god for it. "Kind outsiders all," says the author, "there are no streamlined heroes that never existed in the 'hitchhiker' universe." He has also incorporated a quality control: "Me as an 18-year old reader of the books of Douglas Adams," says Colfer. "At that time, I was cynical, sarcastic, critical, and without any mercy in my judgment, and I thought, if I pass my 18-year-old, it will be a good book."

And that's it. The plot? Is ultimately a minor matter. As in any band so far, Arthur Dent, Tricia McMillan, and their daughter Random are searching for a planet that could replace Earth and flee from the Vogons. But that's just the setting for a wonderfully bizarre mix of exaggerated, all-too-human aliens and the description of strange distant worlds. "The characters are not exactly insane," says Colfer, "this is still the hitchhiker, not War and Peace."

His style of telling stories is more traditional than that of Douglas Adams, who was even more crazy. But still, it's amazing how seamlessly and smoothly "And by the way ..." fits into the homogenous "hitchhiker" universe. For that one would actually have to celebrate it. But he is not so sure. Eoin Colfer sits in an "Egg Chair" at Lost Weekend, a small upscale furniture store in the middle of Wexford.The shop belongs to his friend Declan, whose wife designed a series of Arne Jacobsen's legendary armchairs in the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" style, limited edition, of course 42 pieces. He spins a bit in the exhibit, which is going to read at midnight. "I hope the book is well received and the signs are good," he says, "but I know there will be people who will hate the book because they want to hate it and they will come to the readings They will read it to hate it, and then come to tell me. " Any strategies in dealing with this, Eoin? Oh, he says and grins and shifts all his wrinkles, his face immediately gets another topography: "I was a teacher for fifteen years, and I'm quite good at making people a pig in front of a team." He shrugs. "But that's the penultimate remedy," says Eoin Colfer, "the last thing is crying and disappearing through the back door." And even then, what Douglas Adams once carved in stone is true: do not panic!