J.G. Ballard
Paperback | Pages: 198 pages Rating: 3.48 | 13211 Users | 924 Reviews
Mention Regarding Books The Drowned World
| Title | : | The Drowned World |
| Author | : | J.G. Ballard |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | 50th Anniversary |
| Pages | : | Pages: 198 pages |
| Published | : | May 20th 2013 by Liveright (first published June 30th 1962) |
| Categories | : | Science Fiction. Fiction. Apocalyptic. Post Apocalyptic. Dystopia |
Chronicle Conducive To Books The Drowned World
First published in 1962, J.G. Ballard's mesmerizing and ferociously prescient novel imagines a terrifying future in which solar radiation and global warming have melted the polar ice caps and Triassic-era jungles have overrun a submerged and tropical London. Set during the year 2145, the novel follows biologist Dr. Robert Kerans and his team of scientists as they confront a surreal cityscape populated by giant iguanas, albino alligators, and endless swarms of malarial insects. Nature has swallowed all but a few remnants of human civilization, and, slowly, Kerans and his companions are transformed—both physically and psychologically—by this prehistoric environment. Echoing Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness—complete with a mad white hunter and his hordes of native soldiers—this "powerful and beautifully clear" (Brian Aldiss) work becomes a thrilling adventure and a haunting examination of the effects of environmental collapse on the human mind.Itemize Books Supposing The Drowned World
| Original Title: | The Drowned World |
| ISBN: | 0871403625 (ISBN13: 9780871403629) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Characters: | Robert Kerans, Beatrice Dahl, Colonel Riggs, Dr. Alan Bodkin, Lieutenant Hardman, Strangman |
| Setting: | London, England |
Rating Regarding Books The Drowned World
Ratings: 3.48 From 13211 Users | 924 ReviewsAssess Regarding Books The Drowned World
Goodbye to All ThatThe end of the British Empire was not a sudden event, more a slow burn over decades. For many around the world, its progress was masked by the rather more terrifying facts of the Cold War and its potential for the destruction of life on Earth. Nonetheless the disintegration of the Empire was not without its loss, in the opinion of some, to global culture. But how to express such a sentiment without jingoistic intimations of sour grapes? A fiction about the effects of globalOh gosh I've honestly at last lost track of how many J.G. Ballard novels I've read this month. They are unique, in a way that is consistent from novel to novel but like no other author I know. I keep ping-ponging back and forth as I read these novels between thinking 'oh gosh this is so over-the-top ridiculous,' and then, kind of getting lost in the vivid technicolor imaginings of these worlds Ballard is creating and surrendering to them, and losing my sense of how I define 'ridiculous'. They
I am sitting here wondering if I made a mistake reading The Drowned World as my first J.G. Ballard novel. My edition includes the novel The Wind From Nowhere and I am tempted to read it as well before returning the book to the library but I have so many other books I desperately wish to finish, books I am truly enjoying. If this were not a library book and soon due, then I am afraid I may never have finished The Drowned World, which does not bode well for my reading of the second selection.This
"Nothing endures for so long as fear." Perhaps the most startling aspect of Ballard's novel is the psychology of fear. As the environment devolves in The Drowned World, Dr. Kearns, the novel's main character devolves internally. His nightmares become his reality in the harsh climate depicted in the story. However, not only is he not repelled by the change, he moves headlong into it until the novel's tragic end.
Ballards sophomore novel (following the disowned The Wind from Nowhere) imagines a world stuffed to the runnels with silt, salt water, silt and more silt. Rich in near pornographic descriptions of bogs, croc-filled lagoons and giant lizards, this is a tough and horrendous novel, all the more so knowing this fate awaits our grandchildren. Ballard is never wrong. The flood is coming. Oar up, ladies and gents. Blub blub.
Although today J.G. Ballard is perhaps better known as the author of two books which became major filmsSpielberg's Empire of the Sun and Cronenberg's Crash he was first praised for a quaternity of post-apocalyptic novels published in the early '60's. The Drowned World (1962), the second book in this seriesas well as Ballard's second published novelwas greatly admired by readers of speculative fiction and caused Ballard to be considered one of the great lights of the New Wave.The Drowned World is
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