The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul — Douglas Adams

Introduction

Having consumed the first book in the series, Dirk Gentley’s Holistic Detective Agency , with some enthusiasm, I threw myself at the second book. One of the charms to me of the the inaugural book of the series was the many witty references to Cambridge culture, which aren’t present this time around where the story is primarily set in London.

The novelty of Cambridge life has been replaced by another set of cultural references that I hold near and dear: Norse mythology, which presents itself through Thor and Odin, the former of which causes quite a ruckus here in Midgård by virtue of his short fuse and somewhat dim wit.

Intertextuality

The opening lines of the book is the somewhat iconic quote:

It can hardly be a coincidence that no language on Earth has ever produced the expression ‘as pretty as an airport’

This is now, ironically, one of the most quotable passages from Douglas Adams' bibliography, as would have undoubtedly occurred to him as he wrote it.

Another phrase that is littered across many of the books pages is Dirk’s company motto, which is centered around holistic detective practices and taking seemingly orthogonal paths of investigation due to the principal interconnectedness of all things.

Recommendation

I found The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul to be just as well-written as the first book and took great pleasure in getting more familiar with the chaotic existential philosophy of Dirk Gentley. It’s one of the books that I look forward to rereading at a later point in life.