Original artwork, not a still
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy • 1979
"Space," it says, "is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mindbogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space. Listen..." and so on.
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
Adams makes the biggest thing imaginable funny by shrinking it to a stroll to the chemist, then admitting that even this is peanuts. The joke is the failure of scale: no number helps, so the Guide gives up and just says 'listen'. Fans reach for it whenever a figure is too large to feel, and it is one of the passages most often quoted from the book.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyShow the scene
In chapter 8 of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, first published by Pan Books in London on 12 October 1979, the narration stops to quote the Guide itself, the electronic encyclopaedia Ford Prefect researches for. Its entry on space opens with a blunt warning that the place is big, then reaches for a comparison with the walk to the chemist. Mid-boast it trails off into "Listen..." and "and so on", as if reciting the figures would take too long. The Guide's chatty digressions are how Adams explains the galaxy sideways while Arthur Dent, last man from a demolished Earth, tours it.
Sources (2)
- Wikiquote: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyChapter 8 sectionReference checked
- Wikipedia: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (novel)Lead and Plot summaryReference checked
Context reviewed
