Week Fourteen: Speculative Satire - Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (# 6 points)

A huge joke on a cosmic scale!

I think if I define Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in one sentence, it seems like this can be said. The book is full of humor and jokes. The author is expressing his ingenious imagination regardless of any form and authority. In this book, things like the logical rationale and the probability of the story are not important. Unlike hard Science Fiction, which elaborately unfolds a story based on scientific theory, the charm of this book lies in the writer’s imagination and humor. As we can see from the setting that the Earth is a supercomputer designed by a super-intelligent race, the book shows the adventure of countless unique people and events between space and Earth, and prehistoric times and 5.6 trillion years later.

Even the most entertaining jokes can get tired after hours of listening. To keep laughing and induce fun, we need a narrative device that will arouse the readers’ curiosity and tension. And that’s exactly what this book has, not just a list of jokes.

I feel like the writer didn’t pursue giving some touching feelings to the reader. So the stories start with humor and end with humor, and I think this style of telling the story gives some relaxing feelings although the stories are talking about life and space. This builds his own way to deliver a message and his perspective of seeing the universe.

The other thing that I love about this book is the characters. They are not the one who overcomes or achieves something special, but they’re so attractive because they are reflecting the life of us in reality. Arthur Dent, who suddenly became the protagonist of the cosmic adventure, is a timid character with no ambition, no special abilities, or a sense of adventure for a new world. Even in a situation where he is responsible for the existence of the universe, he longs for a cup of warm tea. Not a hero often appearing in science fiction novels, he is an ordinary person like us who lives everyday life on this planet Earth. And this is why I enjoyed this book and had a humorous adventure with him.

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Week Eight: Contemporary Fantasy - Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Suzanna Clark (# 6 points)

Jonathan Strange and. Mr. Norrell is a fantasy novel that is very realistic to call it fantasy. The background of the story is England, so that made me compare this story with Harry Potter, while I read it. In Harry Potter, the theme of magic and wizard was expressed in a more unrealistic and imaginary way, but in Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, two characters who can do real magic were actively engaged in real-life events like the war between Great Britain and France, and the real historical figure like Napoleon appears in the story, so the writer combines the history of the United Kingdom and the magical world. It’s like the history of the magical world that the writer created flows away with the real history of England. And I think this makes me feel like the magic in this story could be possible or exist. Featuring wizards and fairies, this work tells a very dark and fantastic story, and, of course, it is fiction. However, the author do...

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I grew up watching movies and was enthusiastic about Vampires, invisible men, wizards, and goblins, so they are like childhood friends in my imagination. Among these imaginative creatures, my favorite is a vampire, because they have special abilities surpassing humans. Furious power, and immortal ability to live forever while maintaining youth. They can sustain life only by drinking human blood. This vampiric act may be scary, but also feel like a fatal temptation. They are attractive because of their distinction, but at the same time, I like vampires due to their familiarity. The fact that they have the same appearance as humans (except the colors of eyes and skin) and that they were humans in the past make vampires more intimate. They can fall in love with a human, and they can even make children with a human. These characteristics of vampires make me feel that they might exist. Louis, who unwillingly became...

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The main background of ‘Confessions’ is a normal school. The homeroom teacher, Yuko, says her four-year-old daughter is murdered by her class at the school where she works. The story begins with the teacher confessing this murder case like a speech in front of her students on the day of the closing ceremony. Yuko is the parent who lost her daughter and couldn’t protect her daughter, and at the same time, she is a teacher who has a duty to guide her students in the right way. She confesses about the law and order, ethics, and moral ideas in a calm and grim tone, in front of the criminals in her class who killed her daughter. Everyone is quietly holding their breath. The incident begins with the death of Yuko's only four-year-old daughter, Manami. Manami was found drowned in the pool, but in fact, it was done by Yuko's students Naoki and Shuya. Shuya wanted to get his mother's attention by killing Manami, and Naoki pushed Manami into the pool to show Shuya, who i...

LITERATURE OF HORROR, FANTASY & SCI-FI

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