June Book Club-The Drowned World by J. G. Ballard
Please join me this month in reading J.G. Ballard's 1962 novel, The Drowned World. It falls into the science fiction sub-genre of Cli Fi. The term climate fiction was coined less than 20 years ago but has a long pedigree reaching back into the nineteenth century. One of the best Cli Fi books I have read recently is Kim Stanley Robinson's The Ministry for the Future. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_fiction
Ballard's novel is set in a future London. Prolonged solar flares have lead to the melting of the polar ice caps and the northern hemisphere turning into a series of lagoons. I hope you enjoy it.
Ballard's novel is set in a future London. Prolonged solar flares have lead to the melting of the polar ice caps and the northern hemisphere turning into a series of lagoons. I hope you enjoy it.
Comments
What were the crocodiles doing on a river cruise?
Checking out the humans from the bank or swimming in the river. We kept all limbs on board! Apparently they swim away if unfamiliar boats are on the river, but are famialiar with and mostly ignore the tour boat. I saw about 15 medium to large crocs and lots of babies. The tour guide knows the older crocs by name and personality and which ones don't mind the boat going close to them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhNE5xd_0wE
2. The characters experience powerful dreams and regressions. What do you think Ballard is saying about memory, the unconscious, and humanity’s past? Does he seem influenced by Jung's concept of the collective unconscious?
3. Kerans and others seem drawn toward isolation and dissolution. What do you think drives this impulse, and how does it shape their identities?
4. Many characters make ethically questionable choices as civilization collapses. Which decisions struck you most?
5. What does the rapid collapse of social order suggest about the stability of civilization?
6. Have you read any other books in the cli-fi genre? If so, which is your favourite?
It was interesting that Ballard's scientist characters theorised that some of them were having strange dreams and changing due to the extreme heat causing humans to regress to the thinking of pre-human organisms that would have existed in prehistoric times. However only some characters, particularly Kerans, Hardman and Bodkin seemed to fully be affected in this way. Beatrice and some of the others had dreams, but in the end acted rationally and chose to return to the climate where humans could still live comfortably. Riggs was not really affected at all.
And most confusingly, Strangman and his crew seemed able to live comfortably in the climate and successfully recover lost treasures. Strangman was very much like a Bond villain, but it seems like he may have been that way despite the climate changes. His crew were particularly badly racially stereotyped. I'm not sure if Ballard thought all mixed race people would naturally behave like that or if the climate was supposed to have made them regress. It was a disappointing part of the book and the storyline made little sense. Also the stereotype of somebody with albinism being evil was also disappointing, but has sadly continue until much more recently. I was confused as to what part of the world Strangman and/or his crew had come from as well. Had they stayed in and adapted to the extreme climate or come back from the areas of the world it was safe to live?
2. The characters experience powerful dreams and regressions. What do you think Ballard is saying about memory, the unconscious, and humanity’s past? Does he seem influenced by Jung's concept of the collective unconscious?
I don't know enough about Jung's theories to really answer this one. Like in the above answer I feel like the characters' theories were undermined by the fact that the extreme climate did not have the same affect on all the humans.
3. Kerans and others seem drawn toward isolation and dissolution. What do you think drives this impulse, and how does it shape their identities?
This impulse seemed to be partly explained by the fact they were regressing to the minds of creatures from prehistoric times. But why did Beatrice manage to change her mind and leave once things got out of control? And most of the characters were able to continue their scientific or looting operations, unless killed, despite the futility of this in an apocalyptic world.
4. Many characters make ethically questionable choices as civilization collapses. Which decisions struck you most?
It was interesting how Bodkin, Kerans and Beatrice were so upset by the lagoons being drained, showing the ugliness of ruined London. It was stated that the lagoons would refill once the rains came, but both Bodkin and then Kerans used, or attempted to use, explosives to refill the lagoons early. Kerans understandably also wanted revenge on Strangman and his crew after they nearly tortured him to death.
5. What does the rapid collapse of social order suggest about the stability of civilization?
I didn't read the situation this way. The disaster had started years earlier and it seemed a portion of humanity was organised enough to move the surviving human population where they could live in stability. The main characters were also able to continue scientific studies or living in luxury (Beatrice) until the climate became extreme. I have to say, I know things were better made in the past, but I felt it unlikely the air conditioning systems would have survived time, flooding and extreme heat.
Even Strangman and his crew were living in a rational fashion until they met Kerans and his friends. Given the circumstances it didn't seem particularly criminal for them to be salvaging treasures and artworks everyone else had given up on.
The book suggests the reality that humans can survive in fairly extreme conditions and still create cultures that provide a certain level of stability. In reality no human society is totally stable, even if a lot of instability goes on behind closed doors of the home or is sanctioned by allowing the rich and powerful to mistreat and abuse the vulnerable. Every society seems to go through times of stability and peace and times of war and chaos and this doesn't always seems to need a disaster or extreme deprivation to set it off. Humans will fight and kill each other over the smallest things and we have never fully understand why. Sometimes it seems it's just led by narcissistic leaders wanting to one up their enemies and somehow getting large populations to carry out their will.
6. Have you read any other books in the cli-fi genre? If so, which is your favourite?
Cli-fi genre is one I generally don't read, but I enjoyed most of the stories in the collection I recently read, 'This Way to The End Times: Classic Tales of the Apocalypse' Edited by Robert Silverberg, which had a number of cli-fi based stories. One story I enjoyed was 'Who can Replace a Man?' by Brian Aldiss. I'm not sure if it would be classified as a cli-fi genre as the problem in the story was caused by overpopulation and the soil on Earth being depleted, leading to a worldwide famine. Here is a link to an English teacher reading the story if anyone is interested. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dogjcBcaf30
It seemed to me that Ballard was postulating some for of devolution. He seemed to be arguing that human’s evolved along with the evolution in other biological creatures and the climate of the time.
2. The characters experience powerful dreams and regressions. What do you think Ballard is saying about memory, the unconscious, and humanity’s past? Does he seem influenced by Jung's concept of the collective unconscious?
This speaks to Jung’s theory. Collective unconscious - Wikipedia I was wondering if all the dreams of a distance past were a physical manifestation of this collective unconsciousness unlocked by the environmental changes.
3. Kerans and others seem drawn toward isolation and dissolution. What do you think drives this impulse, and how does it shape their identities?
Community as we know it seems to have disintegrated. The remnants of humanity were retreating to the poles. The minds seemed to be devolving away from a social connection.
4. Many characters make ethically questionable choices as civilization collapses. Which decisions struck you most?
Strangman’s treatment of Kerans felt very much like a Lord of the Flies type situation. All of the behaviour by Strangman’s group was ethically questionable.
5. What does the rapid collapse of social order suggest about the stability of civilization?
Society is a very fragile construct and can collapse at anytime. All that holds us together is our tacit agreement to stay together.
6. Have you read any other books in the cli-fi genre? If so, which is your favourite?
Many. My favourite is Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry of the Future. The Ministry for the Future - Wikipedia
And me. I know I read it before, but it must have been in a school library as I checked my shelves and we don't have a copy here. County library system has a couple of copies, but it'll be July before we can get one. Hopefully life will co-operate a little to let us read it! (I might even give @Sandemaniac first go at it