The Drowned World - Softcover

Ballard, J G

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0871403625 ISBN 13: 9780871403629

Publisher: Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2013

Synopsis

In the novel that catapulted him to international acclaim upon its publication in 1962, J.G. Ballard's mesmerizing and ferociously prescient The Drowned World imagines a terrifying future in which solar radiation and global warming has melted the 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, Kearns and his companions are transformed--both physically and psychologically--by this prehistoric environment. The Drowned World is both a thrilling adventure and haunting examination of the effects of environmental collapse on the human mind.

About this title

Review

This torrid, powerful 1962 novel--the 17th of Millennium's very strong SF Masterworks classic reprints--was a major turning point in J.G. Ballard's career. In this future our old world has been gradually drowned as global warming melts the ice-caps and primordial jungles and swamps have returned to tropical London, recreating the ancient ecology of the Triassic age. According to the logic of Ballardian "inner space", these Turkish-bath surroundings evoke the psychological suction of the deep past, calling the human "hindbrain" back to the enfolding warmth of the womb. The text is rich with dreamy phrases like "the fata morgana of the terminal lagoon" and "the brighter day of the interior, archaeopsychic sun". As various members of an expedition to London busy themselves with more or less futile schemes like draining Leicester Square in hope of loot, the passive central character Kerans moves in his own "neuronic odyssey" to a strange acceptance of and assimilation by this lushly transformed world, vanishing into a final epiphany of heat and light. There is little narrative drive or sense of story (fans of rip-roaring, action-adventure SF tend not to get on with Ballard). The Drowned World is a potent, sensual mood-piece--static, jewelled and unforgettable. --David Langford

Review

A bold, hypnotic novel, by an author with a genius for the perverse.

This tale of strange and terrible adventure in a world of steaming jungles has an oppressive power reminiscent of Conrad.--Kingsley Amis

Rich and strange...Ballard's potent symbols of beauty and dismay inundate the reader's mind.--Brian Aldiss

About this edition

• Publisher: Liveright Publishing Corporation
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0871403625
• ISBN 13: 9780871403629
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 208