The Overloaded Man

by J.G. Ballard

Contents:
Now: Zero (1959)
The Time-Tombs (1963)
Thirteen to Centaurus (1962)
Track 12 (1958)
Passport to Eternity (1962)
Escapement (1956)
Time of Passage (1964)
The Venus Hunters (1963)
The Coming of the Unconscious (1966) essay
The Overloaded Man (1961)

Genres: Short Stories, Science Fiction, Fiction

158 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1967

About the author

James Graham "J. G." Ballard (15 November 1930 – 19 April 2009) was an English novelist, short story writer, and essayist. Ballard came to be associated with the New Wave of science fiction early in his career with apocalyptic (or post-apocalyptic) novels such as The Drowned World (1962), The Burning World (1964), and The Crystal World (1966). In the late 1960s and early 1970s Ballard focused on an eclectic variety of short stories (or "condensed novels") such as The Atrocity Exhibition (1970), which drew closer comparison with the work of postmodernist writers such as William S. Burroughs. In 1973 the highly controversial novel Crash was published, a story about symphorophilia and car crash fetishism; the protagonist becomes sexually aroused by staging and participating in real car crashes. The story was later adapted into a film of the same name by Canadian director David Cronenberg.

While many of Ballard's stories are thematically and narratively unusual, he is perhaps best known for his relatively conventional war novel, Empire of the Sun (1984), a semi-autobiographical account of a young boy's experiences in Shanghai during the Second Sino-Japanese War as it came to be occupied by the Japanese Imperial Army. Described as "The best British novel about the Second World War" by The Guardian, the story was adapted into a 1987 film by Steven Spielberg.

The literary distinctiveness of Ballard's work has given rise to the adjective "Ballardian", defined by the Collins English Dictionary as "resembling or suggestive of the conditions described in J. G. Ballard's novels and stories, especially dystopian modernity, bleak man-made landscapes and the psychological effects of technological, social or environmental developments." The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry describes Ballard's work as being occupied with "eros, thanatos, mass media and emergent technologies".

Reviews

[Jeff Koeppen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short story collection has been sitting on my shelf since I bought it from Uncle Hugo's Science Fiction Bookstore on April 27, 1997. This was the last of my unread Ballard books on my shelves.

This collection was hit and miss for me. For the most part I enjoyed the first seven stories which were primary science fiction, but the last three I didn't take to. The title story was the final story in this collection and I didn't understand it at all. And the second last story was an essay about surrealist art and I had absolutely no interest in it.

Standouts for me were:

"Now : Zero": a man discovers that events he wishfully writes in his diary come true.

"Thirteen to Centaurus": A brilliant sixteen-year-old boy on an interstellar generation space ship raises concerns with educators and leadership with his insights and questions.

"Time of Passage": An aging backwards story very similar to "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1922.

As with most other collections of short stories I've read some I enjoy and some are misses. Overall, I liked this a lot until the last three stories making up about 50 pages of the 160 total. So, four stars for the first 110 pages and two starts for the last 50 pages.

[Harry Sumption · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review is just for the short story The Overloaded Man.

J.G Ballard he is one of if not the greatest short story writers of the 20th century. Here in a brisk 15 pages he presents a bleak condensed vision of near future life that is as depraved as it is propulsive and farsighted. I have read entire novels that grapple with less ideas in a less compelling way. The short story seems to be primarily grappling with the conflict between private and public life and the role technology plays in obscuring and merging those two states to an intolerable degree. Like the best sci-fi the narrative discusses technology but in a way that is utterly unconcerned with the nuts and bolts of the stuff. Instead, the short story interrogates the psychological state of its excellently sketched and horribly dysfunctional protagonist establishing his deeply dysfunctional home life and the strange see-through apartment complex he lives in with staggering speed and clarity. The short stories hypothetical is a simple but devastating one; what if there was a way to shut out the world, it’s problems and it’s challenges so absolutely that you never had to leave the house again? How would such an ability or technology change you? And what would it say about the world around you that you would rather be shut off from it then live within it? It’s a cliche to say but we definitely live in a world now that is far closer to the reality imagined in their short story from the early 1960s. The Overloaded Man is eerily accurate to modern life, has a brilliant premise, is highly disturbing and has a fantastic ending. It is in other words a perfect short story.

4.5/5

[Toby · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixed bag of science fiction stories as is usual from these collections. It never really fired my imagination but I was impressed by Ballard's use of language in the telling of his stories.

[James B · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just couldn't get into this one. maybe a me issue on this one.

[Mike Mcconnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good selection of stories and ideas from Ballard's much more traditionally Science Fiction shorts.