| The tag "Does the future have a future?" runs along the bottom of J.G. Ballard: Quotes, one of two new compilations put together by San Francisco-based RE/Search Publications. Good question. These days, as we’re exposed daily to a world punctuated by varied horrors, edited for our enjoyment, J.G. Ballard’s prose remains an outpost for those seeking intellectual fiction freed from populist concerns.
While many think of him as a science fiction writer, British author Ballard sees sci-fi as a means to vivisect our fragile tenets of reality. Many of his novels, such as High Rise and Cocaine Nights, likely reflect someone’s life at this very moment, and his writings reveal how we have created a world where reason and insanity are in constant turmoil.
These two compilations are thrilling reads. Ballard’s vision of the future has wormed its way into our consciousness (shouldn’t the concept of "status anxiety" concern us all?). Car crashes and surgery are sexualized because we have turned fear and violence into another fetish – Ballard is correct to point out that if we were exposed to the true horrors of violence, we’d begin to correct our actions accordingly. Rather than put technology and rational thought to effective use, we’ve placed the power of control into the hands of those who seek to abuse it, with a resulting paranoia. Perhaps the most frightening pieces in the books are discussions about the regression of Western society, as we further reject control of ourselves. The consequences of the last 20 years should be warning enough, but they aren’t. Yet there is an opportunity for growth. As he reveals here, Ballard doesn’t want to see us all end up in shallow graves with the dirt stuffed into our mouths before we can say, "What happened?"
The two books, edited by publisher V. Vale, are prescient compilations. One volume, Conversations, collects interviews with Ballard by Vale, composer Graeme Revell and others. It’s a delight to hear Ballard discuss fiction, terrorism and film, often in the same piece. The best conversations, like letters, are an art in themselves, and Vale provides a steady hand to lead the pieces along. Even as comments and topics overlap, they give a hint at what still drives Ballard as a writer. Throughout, one sees the challenges and costs to artistic integrity in maintaining a community of writers and artists whose work constantly pushes against the comfort of others. As an addendum, Vale has also included a list of Ballard’s essential reading – from Nathanael West’s The Day of the Locust to the Los Angeles Yellow Pages.
Quotes, the second book, is just that – a collection of snippets compiled from the author’s works, interviews and other sources. It’s not often that any of us let our minds go after reading just one or two lines from a book, yet a work like Quotes can make you do just that. It’s an ideal read for the train, or when you only have a few free moments. I’ve always believed in the transforming power of the written word. If you do, too, seek out these books and enjoy them.
This weekend sees the launch of Kristen Wagner and Tim Van Horn’s new book, I Am Albertan: A Modern Day Photographic Essay of the Albertan People. In the spirit of the province’s centennial, Wagner and Van Horn toured Alberta collecting photos to document life and shake free a few stereotypes. The event is Saturday, September 17 at 2:40 p.m. at the Triangle Gallery next to City Hall.
Also on Saturday, Pages on Kensington is hosting a reading by Clem Martini of his new book, The Plague, the second novel in his Crow Chronicles series. Of course, Martini is a playwright, too, and Quest Theatre will be on hand to perform a scene from his new play for young people, The Secret Life of the Octopus. The event is at the Hillhurst United Church (1227 Kensington Close N.W.).
On Wednesday, September 21 at 7:30 p.m., the Pages readings return to the bookstore with Calgary Herald staff writer Karen Van Kampen discussing her new work, The Golden Cell. It’s about that issue which raises the ire of moral conservatives everywhere – stem cell research.
Over at McNally Robinson, Stephen J. Randall discusses his new book, United States Oil Policy Since World War I: For Profits and Security, on Friday, September 16 at 8 p.m. The next day, Saturday, September 17 at 8 p.m., local author Christopher Willard reads from his latest genre-bending work, Garbage Head. And British Columbian author Jay Bernard offers his new work, Memories are Made of This, a collection of elegiac short stories about the gentler days gone by, on Wednesday, September 21 at noon. |
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