barcelona.cat shortcuts

  • ajuntament.barcelona.cat
  • meet.barcelona
  • Info Barcelona
  • BCN guide
  • Procedures
  • BCN map
  • Communication channels
  • How to get there

English (Change language)

  • Català
  • Castellano
  • English
  • www.barcelona.cat
  • English
  • Logo Ajuntament de Barcelona
  • www.barcelona.cat
  • Ajuntament de Barcelona

barcelona.cat shortcuts

  • ajuntament.barcelona.cat
  • meet.barcelona
  • Info Barcelona
  • BCN guide
  • Procedures
  • BCN map
  • Communication channels
  • How to get there

English (Change language)

  • Català
  • Castellano
  • English
Barcelona Cultura
Skip to main content

2024 Edition: From teh 6th to the 10th of November

Home
  • . Open in a new window
  • . Open in a new window
  • . Open in a new window
Home
Menu navigation instructions

Instructions for screen readers and keyboard users

This menu requires arrow keys to be able to use it. The menu has up to three levels:

  • First level: main menu options
  • Second level: sub-options for elements from the first level
  • Third level: sub-options for elements from the second level

Browsing instructions:

  • Browse using the horizontal arrow keys on the first level of the menu.
  • Display and browse on the second level using the vertical arrow keys.
  • Use the Escape key to get back to the first level.
  • Use the right arrow key to display the third level.
  • Browse the third level by using the vertical arrow keys.
  • Use the Escape key to get back to the second level.
  • Alternatively, use the Enter key to display any level.
  • Festival
    Festival
    • Presentation
    • 42: the name
    • Poster
  • Programme
    Programme
    • 42 programme
    • Activities at libraries
    • +42
    • The 42 in secondary schools
    • Previous editions
  • Participants
  • Spaces
  • Books
  • 42 Awards
    42 Awards
    • Awards
    • Jury
    • Award winners
  • Collaborators
    Collaborators
    • Publishing companies
    • Bookshops
    • Others
  • Transmedia
    Transmedia
    • Transmedia 2023
    • Transmedia 2022
    • Transmedia 2021
Menu navigation instructions

Instructions for keyboard users

This menu requires arrow keys to be able to use it. The menu has up to three levels:

  • First level: main menu options
  • Second level: sub-options for elements from the first level
  • Third level: sub-options for elements from the second level

Browsing instructions:

  • Browse using the vertical arrow keys on the first level of the menu.
  • Use the right arrow key to display the second level.
  • Browse on the second level using the vertical arrow keys.
  • Use the Escape key to get back to the first level.
  • Use the right arrow key to display the third level.
  • Browse the third level by using the vertical arrow keys.
  • Use the Escape key to get back to the second level.
  • Alternatively, use the Enter key to display any level.
  • Festival
    Festival
    • Presentation
    • 42: the name
    • Poster
  • Programme
    Programme
    • 42 programme
    • Activities at libraries
    • +42
    • The 42 in secondary schools
    • Previous editions
  • Participants
  • Spaces
  • Books
  • 42 Awards
    42 Awards
    • Awards
    • Jury
    • Award winners
  • Collaborators
    Collaborators
    • Publishing companies
    • Bookshops
    • Others
  • Transmedia
    Transmedia
    • Transmedia 2023
    • Transmedia 2022
    • Transmedia 2021
  • . Open in a new window
  • . Open in a new window
  • . Open in a new window
  1. Home
  2. / Festival
  3. / 42: the name

42: the name

You just have to do a quick Google search: 42 is the science fiction number par excellence and, by extension, of all fantasy genres. There are memes, T-shirts and whole articles to figure it out. It is the subject of tributes, people play with it and quote it more or less overtly. Above all, they attempt to reveal its mystery.

 Because, to start with, the number 42 has a clear origin: it is the surprising answer to the question “What is the meaning of life, the universe and everything?” provided by the computer Deep Thought, after reflecting on it for 7.5 million years, in Douglas Adams’ novel The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. An icon of the genre at its most humorous (putting him side by side with Kurt Vonnegut, Terry Pratchett, Italo Calvino and, closer to home, Pere Calders), Adams did not stop at that. In the novel, after giving the famous answer, the computer refuses to leave it at that and adds that the problem is really that the question had not been properly phrased. Which, of course, leads to the characters building a better computer so they can ask it the Ultimate Question…

 For now, we’ll leave it there. Because that, the invitation to pose new questions, to leave the great answers aside in order to improve the initial approaches, is the festival’s ultimate aim. To use 42 as a way of reconsidering this genre.

 A name that is different, so different in fact that it is not even a name but a number.

 A name that celebrates an always creative tradition: that of fantasy genres.

 And, what’s more, a name that was chosen on the 42nd anniversary of the work that created it (yes, Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy turned 42 in 2021).

 For everything else… we’ll see you at 42.

Pie de página

  • Credits
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
Barcelona City Council logo
  • Accessibility
  • Legal notice