Once to Rupert and back

Once Rupert and Back (Original title: Mostly Harmless ) is the fifth part of the series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams and was released in 1992.

The volume is subtitled The fifth volume of the four-volume trilogy , as Douglas Adams supposedly wanted to write a hitchhiker's trilogy and his publisher "forced" to add two more volumes. The original English title refers to the travel guide entry about the earth: The original entry harmless (harmless) was fundamentally revised by Ford Prefect, but was shortened by the editorial staff of the travel guide to the words mostly harmless (mostly harmless) before publication .

content

Tricia McMillan is Trillian in another universe where she didn't leave Earth with Zaphod Beeblebrox. She is kidnapped by a group of Grebulonian researchers to Rupert, a planet in our solar system that is still far outside of Pluto. Since the Grebulonians have lost their memory in an accident and can no longer remember the goal of their mission, they prefer to occupy themselves with astrology; but since the interpretation of the horoscopes only works from the earth, they ask Trillian for help.

Meanwhile, Ford Prefect is currently trying to deposit its expense report at the hitchhiker's headquarters, but the hitchhiker recently fell victim to a takeover. The new management has decided to bring out an "improved" version of the travel guide. On the spur of the moment, Ford steals the prototype and sends it to Arthur Dent.

Arthur Dent lives after a spaceship crash on a technologically very backward planet, where he devotes himself to perfecting the art of sandwich making. His great love Fenchurch disappeared in a strange way during a hyperspace journey. Shortly after Trillian's visit, who introduces him to their daughter Random, whom he had never heard of, Arthur also receives the package with the new travel guide.

Random opens Ford's package and leaves the planet with the help of the new “hitchhiker”. Ford arrives and they leave the planet together to find Arthur's daughter. While searching, they meet Elvis Presley , who is selling his pink spaceship to Ford. Ultimately, Arthur, Ford, Trillian, Tricia, Random and also Agrajag meet on earth in the Club Stavro Mueller Beta (see: Stavromula Beta ), where all circles close and the earth finally and in all possible positions of the time and probability axis gets destroyed.

Graduation novel

In an interview published in his last, unfinished crime novel Salmon in Doubt , Adams speaks of the fact that he will one day write a sixth hitchhiker's book; he just wanted to give the series a more optimistic ending than the one in Rupert And Back, which became a very dark book, mainly for personal reasons. However, his early death (2001) prevented its realization. The 2005 BBC radio play version of the book (The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy - Quintessential Phase) contains a more optimistic ending in this sense. After Adam's death, however, his widow gave the author Eoin Colfer permission to write another novel in the series. This was published in 2009 under the title And, by the way, something else… .

title

The English original title Mostly Harmless ("largely harmless") is, as in the three previous works, a quote from the first part of the series. The German edition breaks with this tradition; the title refers to Trillian's trip to the planet Rupert.

expenditure

• First edition: Mostly Harmless. William Heinemann, 1992, ISBN 0-434-00926-1 .
• German: Rupert once and back. Translated by Sven Böttcher . Hoffmann and Campe, 1993, ISBN 3-455-00075-4 .
• Audiobook: To Rupert and Back. The Hörverlag, Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-8445-1106-2 .

Web links

• Mostly Harmless in the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (English)