Is it just me, or is western society increasingly beginning to resemble a JG Ballard novel? Mass media (particularly in the digital realm) has become a landscape in its own right, just as real and potent a the streets and skyscrapers of the city, or the shrubbery and trees of the forest. This landscape seems to have an atavistic effect on us, reawakening something tribal and feral. I'm morbidly excited to see where we end up. What do you think Veeky Forums?
Is it just me, or is western society increasingly beginning to resemble a JG Ballard novel...
Henry Reed
Wyatt Reyes
Bumping with another cool cover
Ryder James
I don't think so. Ballard is too much 70s or 80s. Read The Circle by Dave Eggers for a more realistic picture of our immediate future.
Dylan Russell
Just got a copy of High Rise. Been real into the effects of technology and media on society lately so I'm excited to read it.
Wyatt Bennett
This is certainly not the first time I've heard this. I should probably read some JG Ballard.
Thomas Myers
fuck society
Dylan Nelson
We are living high res desu
Wyatt Wilson
Haven't read any Eggers. Guess I'll have to check that one out.
Ballard most explicitly deals with the impact of environments on psychological states, but many of his works conceive of media/technology as comprising their own distinct environments.
You're gonna need to to prepare for the coming years!
Adrian Carter
Ballard channeled so many things on TAE. It's scary because that's the way I imagine the endgame of this accelerationist course we're onto: an endless test on the capability of human conciousness to discern physical realm and virtual/mental superstructure, the AI Panopticon not really omniscient but part of the same closed feedback loop, and increasingly embedded in the subjects themselves. Nobody has a fixed identity, nothing has a fixed body, the natural environment itself is dubious...an inversion of the idea of "uncharted territory": the territory has been charted too many times, like the old VHS tapes, endless recordings on top of other recordings, not enough to make it complete noise but enough to obfuscate all point of reference. All apocalyptic-era Ballard is about erasing points of reference and exploring the effects on people's behaviour, however TAE is not about ERASURE but OVERLOAD. He even got the humor right: dreamy body horror meets satire.
The only thing I dislike about TAE is Ballard's usual detachment. I've always found him too cold, much like Borges.
OP, I would tone down the excitement because right now we're comfortably en route to end up in TAE rather than "The Drowned World" or "The Drought".
Few understand.
Joshua Jones
more like JG Ballsack
Levi Ward
high guality post
Liam Scott
Sup bro how ya been?
Austin Cook
it really is only a matter of time before the world becomes one big japanese internment camp. truly a visionary
I maintain. how you doing
Luke Torres
Pretty good these days. What brings you back to Veeky Forums?
Matthew Evans
>However, the heads of the Chinese were already turning to another spectacle. A crowd had gathered below the steps of the Shanghai Club. A group of American and British sailors had emerged through the revolving doors and stood on the top step, arguing with each other and waving drunkenly at the cruiser moored by the Bund. The Chinese watched as they formed a chorus line. Provoked by their curious but silent audience, the sailors began to jeer at the Chinese. At a signal from an older sailor, the men unbuttoned their bell-bottomed trousers and urinated down the steps.
>Fifty feet below them, the Chinese watched without comment as the arcs of urine formed a foaming stream that ran down to the street. When it reached the pavement the Chinese stepped back, their faces expressionless. Jim glanced at the people around him, the clerks and coolies and peasant women, well aware of what they were thinking. One day China would punish the rest of the world, and take a frightening revenge.
Joseph Turner
good to hear, man.
>What brings you back to Veeky Forums?
i am here to fulfill ra's al ghul's destiny
just passing through
Ryder Russell
Well, well, D&E, what the fuck are you reading these days? Still jerking off to Heidegger?
Colton Hall
Is The Atrocity Exhibition his best? How do High-Rise, Super Cannes or Cocaine Nights measure up?
Zachary Edwards
I really love the joy division song. But I want to read Crash instead of Atrocity I think...
Should I do this or is Atrocity the better work?
Benjamin Rogers
>Nobody has a fixed identity, nothing has a fixed body, the natural environment itself is dubious...an inversion of the idea of "uncharted territory": the territory has been charted too many times, like the old VHS tapes, endless recordings on top of other recordings, not enough to make it complete noise but enough to obfuscate all point of reference.
I don't know; I like the idea of this. I want to fall into it, like a daydream or a fever.
Blake Watson
Haven't read the latter two but of what I've read, I'd say Atrocity Exhibition is his finest work. High-Rise is vey strong too, and probably a better starting point since Atrocity Exhibition is so disjointed.
Brandon Williams
Crash is easily his best work of the "apocalyptic sci-fi" books he has written
Aaron Johnson
OFFICIAL APOCALYPTIC-ERA BALLARD POWER RANKINGS (that I've read)
1. Atrocity Exhibition
2. Drowned World
3. High Rise
4. Burning World/The Drought
5. Terminal Beach
6. Crystal World
7. Wind from Nowhere
pending: Vermillion Sands, Crash, Concrete Island, the other short story collection
Adam Allen
what are the eras of ballard?
Carson Lee
He was really open to explaining his ideas, too. I highly recommend his interviews. Some of his prophecies in the 80's are bone-chlling to read nowadays.
Other reading about Ballard's spinal landscapes, if you're interested:
speculatingfutures.club
firstmonday.org
reallifemag.com
Ryan Nelson
Atrocity Exhibition is so weird and freaky it might genuinely transcend the good/bad dichotomy. I honestly can't say whether I enjoyed it.
Angel Scott
What's up with Ballard's stilted style, Veeky Forums? IIRC his books are full of unrealistic dialogue in which ordinary (though admittedly educated) characters talk like they're reading to each other from psychology textbooks. I assume it's deliberate, but why?
Benjamin Fisher
It certainly resembles a disturbing satire imo. The claims that protesters are paid to protest, that no news outlet is reliable and that all news should be gained from an unreliable president, that offence and feelings should be more respected than free speech, etc. I don't want to be cliche but this feels very much like the build up to the events of Orwell's 1984.
Samuel Moore
It's probably the first postmodern book ever written. I enjoyed it, but I didn't like the choice of reissuing it with autobiographical notes written by Ballard himself 30 years later. The book is enough fucked up by itself, why make it more confused?
Jace Mitchell
There is a recurring theme in the Buddha of Surburbia's work that hasn't been approached here yet and that's the insight that our dark, lizard natures are only just below the surface and will bubble up at the drop of a hat - especially when things are too comfy.
Kind of explains the interwebs nowadays.
Also, I love his recurring motif of the gliding manta-ray shape. Fuck knows what it signifies, though.
Ian Perry
mostly just commentaries on nietzsche, last proper book i read was Schopenhauer's Essays and Aphorisms
>Still jerking off to Heidegger?
never been a fan, maybe you are thinking of Caracalla or someone
Jackson Hughes
>Is it just me, or is western society increasingly beginning to resemble a [insert author here] novel?
Andrew Turner
I'd say his short stories are where he truly shines. His longer work is great don't get me wrong, but there's two collections of his shorts available which are well worth investing in.
Noah Phillips
this guy gets it, though i haven't read tae yet, it's basically interconnected short pieces i heard?
Dominic Torres
I think there's some debate as to whether or not it's a short story collection or just a really experimental novel. I read it as the latter.
Jacob Young
From what I've read I agree. The Terminal Beach and The Voices of Time are pretty awesome.
Jose Williams
Loved Vermilion Sands but that's been my only exposure to his short stories (besides that one in Dangerous Visions which I found underwhelming, like nearly everything else in that collection). Guess I'll check out Terminal Beach and Voices of Time soon.
Mason Ramirez
but what are the eras??
Jonathan Jones
What does TAE mean?
Cameron Butler
The Atrocity exhibition
Andrew Sanders
F# A# Infinity?
Julian Brooks
If you want literature that feels like that album, try Paul Bowles' Next to Nothing
cuneiformpress.com
Parker Gray
>I'm morbidly excited to see where we end up.
>being excited about societal decay
Classic degenerate literary class. Part of me hopes Islam wins the coming descent into chaos, so I can join them in throwing idiots like yourself off sandstone college rooftops, ISIS-style.
Jack Rivera
Good place to start with Ballard? I was looking at a copy of High Rise not 3 hours ago. I didn't pick it up because it had the movie poster for its cover and I felt sick.
Adrian Wilson
>fucking idiot, wanting society to decay
>i hope society decays so i can kill you
not very bright, are just lad?
Ethan Clark
Mom made pancakes?