Endings

Can't help there but I was always confused by 'Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency' even though I love everything else Douglas Adams wrote so light shedding would be good

Lost Emily, what exactly puzzles you about Dirk Gently ? I know it is bloody confusing on first reading, but it does all tie up quite nicely. Very, very underrated book. Can ANYONE explain the point of the Owl Service by Alan Garner to me ? I've read it a number of times and had to study it at school in third year, but it doesn't make any sense. I know it is all tied into Welsh mythology blah, blah, blah, but what is the deal with those plates ? And the bigger mystery - what was he thinking and what was his publisher smoking ?

Not sure exactly as it's a while since I read it but I can remember finding it confusing. I'll re-read it and get back to you!

Emily, There's a very good explanation of the ending of Dirk Gently on one of the many Douglas Adams fansites (can't remember which - sorry). A little knowledge of the circumstances under which Coleridge wrote Kubla Khan helps (it went way over my head first time round.)

That would explain it - I know nothing about those circumstances - can you shed any light?

Okay, here goes... Coleridge claimed to have dreamt the poem Kubla Khan, and wrote it down upon awakening. He only got as far as the first verse when he was disturbed by a visitor from Porlock. He subsequently forgot the second verse which was never written. At the beginning of the novel, Kubla Khan is read out at the dinner at St Cedds, including 'the second, and altogether stranger part of the poem...' We later learn from Reg that Coleridge may have stumbled across the time machine at one time or another. The 'second part' of the poem therefore is probably a reference to the time machine at St Cedds. On reading the 'second part' of Kubla Khan, the ghost learns of the time machine's existence. Thus, in order to prevent the ghost going back in time and ending the world, Dirk interrupts Coleridge whilst writing Kubla Khan. Coleridge consequently forgets the contents of the second part, which is never written, and the ghost never learns of the time machine. Not quite sure why the mother ship explodes though...

Don't forget the opium...

Thanks very much - I'll give it another go now that it all makes sense!