J.G. Ballard discussion

I have just finished reading The Drought for the second or third time. What struck me was the temporal aspect of the novel - it spans nearly 12 years. I think this is unusual for Ballard but I would appreciate the thoughts of other members of the group.

You make a good point here. As far as I can see twelve years tops it. There's passage of time in many of his works - months in "The Day Of Creation", considerable time in "The Crystal World" and so forth. But that's only Ballard's novels. In his many short stories we may find some in which more time passes. How much time goes by in "The Terminal Beach" or "Dream Cargoes"? There's a study for you.

I wonder how much time passes in High Rise. Sorry to derail your temporal thread, but The Drought is one of my favorites and I've always thought the surreal passages towards the end, where he chases water around in sand, were dreams that he wrote the rest of the book around. Does anyone know if Ballard talked about writing from dreams?

I do not know if Ballard wrote from his dreams but he was very inspired by surrealist paintings, which are often inspired by dreams and dream logic. I think the final passages in which Ransom returns to Hamilton are very surreal - from the lions to the almost genderless figure of Lomax in his silk suit, among other things - and one can almost imagine all the imagery he presents us with at this stage of the book being captured on canvass by one of the great surrealists.
I am tempted to go further into this but I may ruin the end of the book for others so I will resist the urge.