The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul: Difference between revisions
The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (view source)
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{{work}}
{{Infobox book
[[File:LongDarkTeaTimeOfTheSoul_6378.jpg|frame]]▼
| title =
| original title =
| caption =
| author = Douglas Adams
| central theme =
| elevator pitch = A journalist and a "detective" cross paths as their respective investigations lead to evidence of the existence of Norse gods. A Coca-Cola machine and a mouldy refrigerator may be involved.
| genre =
| franchise = Dirk Gently
| preceded by = Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
| followed by = The Salmon of Doubt
| publication date = October 10, 1988
| wiki URL = https://dirkgently.fandom.com/wiki/Dirk_Gently%27s_Holistic_Wiki
| wiki name = Dirk Gently's Holistic Wiki
}}
{{quote|"...it was the Sunday afternoons he couldn't cope with, and that terrible listlessness which starts to set in ... as you stare at the clock the hands will move relentlessly on to four o'clock, and you will enter the long dark teatime of the soul..."|''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy (Franchise)/Life, The Universe And Everything|Life,
''The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul'' is [[Douglas Adams]]'s 1988 sequel to ''[[Dirk
▲{{quote|"...it was the Sunday afternoons he couldn't cope with, and that terrible listlessness which starts to set in ... as you stare at the clock the hands will move relentlessly on to four o'clock, and you will enter the long dark teatime of the soul..."|''[[Life the Universe And Everything]]''}}
▲''The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul'' is [[Douglas Adams]]'s 1988 sequel to ''[[Dirk Gentlys Holistic Detective Agency]]''. It deals with multiple dimensions, Norse Gods, refrigerators, murder and record company contracts.
It can be seen as a comedy/mystery/science fiction.
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Followed by ''[[The Salmon of Doubt]]'' [[Author Existence Failure|(unfinished)]].
{{tropenamer}}
* [[The Alleged Car]]: Kate's Citroën 2CV is the [[Trope Namer]] -- at one point she's in court for a traffic mishap (her car threw a wheel and nearly caused an accident) and a police officer refers to it as "the alleged car", and the name sticks.
* [[Arson Murder and Jaywalking]]:▼
{{tropelist}}
{{quote| King's Cross Station is a scary place, full of muggers, pimps, drug-pushers and hamburger salesmen. If you want cheap sex, a quick fix or -- God help you -- a hamburger, this is where you can find it.}}▼
▲* [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking]]:
▲{{quote|
* [[Baleful Polymorph]]: Thor does this by accident when he's angry, thus setting off the events of the novel. His many unfortunate victims include a lamp, an airline ticket clerk, and {{spoiler|a fighter jet}}.
* [[Bavarian Fire Drill]]: Dirk's favorite way of getting places he shouldn't be.
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* [[Clap Your Hands If You Believe]]: Said to apply to the gods, even as regards their own powers.
* [[The Coroner Doth Protest Too Much]]: One of the most contrived explanations for a "suicide" that has ever been committed to print. Admittedly this was to satisfy the [[Muggles|police]], who were pointedly not interested in the idea that the victim had been killed by a goblin as part of a demonic contract. It's a case of [[Take Our Word for It]], as it's never explained in detail to the reader, but it involves a lot of [[Noodle Implement|Noodle Implements]].
* [[Deal
* [[Deus Ex Machina]]: {{spoiler|The ending of the book, while appropriate, neatly finishes all the plot threads in about five pages.}} Also slightly subverted: {{spoiler|In the process of solving all the plot problems, the Deus Ex Machina also puts a massive hole in Dirk's house. In ''The Salmon of Doubt'', it's still a problem.}}
* [[Gods Need Prayer Badly]]
* [[A Good Name for
{{quote|
* [[Impossibly Mundane Explanation]]: When Dirk meets a girl who repeatedly recites the previous day's stock quotes, he rejects the assumption that she's just memorizing them somehow (after all, the information is out there!) in favor of some more mystical explanation, because nobody would ever go to that much trouble. It's a little different since he's arguing on the basis of general human nature, not specific character, but the principle is the same. Dirk sums this up by reversing [[Sherlock Holmes]]' usual maxim: Eliminate the improbable, and whatever remains, however impossible, must be the truth.
* [[It Came From the Fridge]]: Dirk and his cleaning lady absolutely refuse to open his fridge, and try to trick others into opening it. He eventually has to call a fence to take his fridge away and replace it with a brand new, stolen one, which he vows never to use. {{spoiler|The old one has a god of Guilt burst from it to resolve the plot, in a [[Deus Ex Machina]].}}
* [[It Can Think]]: Dirk has quite a shock when he peeks through the keyhole at the eagle and sees it ''looking back at him''.
* [[Laser
* [[Necktie Leash]]: Kate uses this one on Dirk, who subverts a repeated use by taking off his tie and handing it to her.
* [[Never Heard That One Before]]:
{{quote|
"Oh?" said Kate in surprise, and then looked puzzled.
"Does that bother you?"
"It's just that I have a friend who plays the double bass."
"I see," said Dirk.
"Whenever people meet him and he's struggling around with it, they all say the same thing, and it drives him crazy. They all say, 'I bet you wished you played the piccolo.' Nobody ever works out that that's what everybody else says. I was just trying to work out if there was something that everybody would always say to a private detective so that I could avoid saying it."
"No. What happens is that everybody looks very shifty for a moment, and you got that very well." }}
** Also, everyone and their dog keeps asking Dirk if he knows his nose is broken.
* [[
* [[Norse Mythology]]
* [[Not
* [[Occult Detective]]
* [[Self
* [[Stalker Without a Crush]]: Dirk explains that he will pick a random car to follow if he gets lost while he's driving. He finds that while he seldom gets where he intended, he always ends up where he needed to be.
* [[Unusually Uninteresting Sight]]: The elderly lady who witnesses Thor's battle with the eagle on Primrose Hill simply resumes walking her dog as soon as the combatants move out of the way.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Fantasy Literature]]
[[Category:Science Fiction Literature]]
[[Category:
[[Category:British Literature]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, The}}
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