I started reading the Ballard book, The Drought. I read it a long time ago, and although I didn’t really understand Ballard’s style back then, the book definitely haunted me. I’m really enjoying it this time around. There are a number of allusions to Shakespeare’s The Tempest, such as a character called Miranda, and a Caliban-type character called Quilter. But I’m finding a lot of other literary allusions, like some Melville in there too, among others. Typical Ballard.
I finished JG Ballard’s The Drought tonight. It follows brilliantly in the surreal vein of his previous book, The Drowned World, and I think in fact it’s better. It’s not a typical disaster novel. Ballard’s not interested in the spectacle of social panic and breakdown, he gives us mostly the aftermath, where the characters are free to reinvent themselves in this new landscape. And what a landscape it is. Dreamlike oceans of desert where thirsty lions prowl, Daliesque vistas of trawlers stranded on sand while razor sharp shadows play off the blighted light. The third act is especially magnificent, with MC Ransom and his ragtag group returning from the ever-disappearing ocean front along the familiar river (now a channel of sand) to their former homes. They know it is a suicidal trip, but each has their reasons for making it. For Ransom, amongst the horrors and wonders he finds at the end of it, there is a kind of peace, as if he has returned to the womb.