J.G. Ballard discussion

Only his second novel and his skills and vision as a writer are already very evolved (it doesn't hurt that he was writing some of the best sf short stories in prior years).

Already, we see his talent to create fascinating imagery. His vision of a completely flooded London with a tropical climate is very memorable.

Comparing it to his books from the same period, I would say that it's almost as good as The Crystal World.

Although his writing is of course fantastic, The Drowned World is actually my least favourite of Ballard's work. I think compared to High-Rise, Concrete Island and Super Cannes, the Drowned World struggles to compete.

I love the Drowned World, but it's a very different beast to some of his later books like High Rise or Super Cannes.

I have just read the novel for the second time, having first read it some years ago, and got a lot more out of it this time.

It seems to me that the characters that begin to dream their strange hypnotic dreams among the heated lagoons of London and choose to stay behind are connecting to an essential element of our long human and pre-human history, the primal memories of which are wired into our genes and which forms the very basis of our most basic animal selves. This fundamental fact of our lives is too often forgotten to us, hidden in part by the civilisations and cultures we have developed, but are an ever present factor. How we make the distinction between human and pre-human history is in evolutionary terms a matter of definition, but the novel highlights for me the concept that we are all part of a single continuum and our biological history, as a species interconnected through time with the other species of the planet, is a strong factor in the decisions we make instinctively in moments of great stress and shock when we are driven by the need to survive.

Also within the book we see Ballard doffing his cap many times to the great surrealists which have influenced his work and the images he uses. The painters Delvaux and Ernst are directly referenced in the book and the protagonist ponders the meaning of their paintings during his experiences. A painting of Ernst’s I like which Ballard must have found influential is called The Eye of Silence. The entanglement of primeval darkness within the painting screams of The Drowned World to me and seems to be staring directly into the primal abyss of which the protagonist delves into over the course of the story. See the painting below.

Another group Apocalypse Mow just had Drowned World as the book club choice.