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/lit/ - Literature

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17330527 No.17330527 [Reply] [Original]

Where's an ideal place to start if I want to read JG Ballard? The Drowned World seems like the obvious choice but I'm not sure how good it actually is.

>> No.17330574

>>17330527
It's very good, start reading it

>> No.17330609

>>17330574

where should I go from there?

>> No.17330625

>>17330609
Why don't you worry about finishing the book first

>> No.17331569

My nigga JG Ballard. Bump.

>> No.17331743

>>17330527
The Drowned World is not very good. There are enjoyable parts but ultimately it's just a rough debut sci fi novel that shows potential. High Rise, The Day of Creation, and Atrocity Exhibition are the shit. His essay collection's pretty good too

>> No.17331767

>>17330527
Start with his short stories.

>> No.17332874

>>17330527
Depends what you want. There are several periods in which he wrote quite different things.

Early Ballard is mostly straight-shooting sci-fi, focusing on ecological collapse. Drowned World, Crystal World, etc. Haven't read any of it.

Middle Ballard is what he's famous for. I'd just jump straight into Crash. If you want more of that, The Atrocity Exhibition. Otherwise High Rise.

If you like High Rise, try Concrete Island. Concrete Island is about a "modern man" who crashes and gets stuck in a little dead-space between some London highways. He turns inwards to try and master this little space given to him. I'd say it's a bit more psychological than High Rise, but not as good.

A good bridger between middle Ballard and late Ballard is Drowned World. This is very underrated in the Ballard milieu. It's about an aid worker to a 3rd world African country who becomes obsessed with finding a river in the drought-stricken interior, eventually willing it into existence.

Late Ballard jumped around a bit and is harder to pin down. His writing is a bit more conventional. He wrote a pair of memoir-esque books, Empire of the Sun and the Kindness of Women. I think it's his best. You'll get more out of them if you've already read his other books, as you'll notice subtle recurring themes: technology's ability to transform the countryside, its offering of new interfaces and outlets for our urges, desires, and manias.

By the end he seemed to mostly write crime fiction, but I haven't read any of this unfortunately. Will Self is often considered a spiritual successor; he knew Ballard quite closely and I would say has similar preoccupations. While I think Will Self is quite pretentious, I think his more mature novels are decent. His interviews can also be decent. He has nice insights into Ballard's writing which you might find useful to listen to. I watched a good one once where he talked about psychogeography. Ignore him when he starts pontificating about society, history, politics, or religion though.

>> No.17333420

>>17330527
Empire of the Sun. Amazing story, get your weeb fix, and learn a bit about Ballard's childhood.

>> No.17333428

Crash,then High Rise, then Drowned/Crystal worlld, then you can branch out. Don't watch the film adaptations until you've read the books.

>> No.17333951

>>17333420
Empire of the sun reads like someone else wrote it, honestly. It has, like, a plot and everything.

>> No.17333958

>>17330527
High Rise, then Concrete Island and then Crash. That's a pretty good progression that gets you into his headspace without getting too overly weird.

>> No.17334049

>>17330527
I started with High Rise.

>> No.17334055

>>17330527
It's pretty great. After that, read The Drought.