dogmatika
Criminalising everyday life
15 September 2006
"Consumerism does have certain affinities with fascism. It's a way of voting not at the ballet box but at the cash counter... The one civic activity we take part in is shopping, particularly in big malls. These are ceremonies of mass affirmation."
The Independent talk to JG Ballard about Kingdom Come and Ballardian landscapes:
Ballard has the rare distinction of appearing as an adjective ("Ballardian") in the Collins English Dictionary. Does he - as it states - deal in dystopias? Ballard cannot resist a characteristic inversion: "I've decided to recast myself as Utopian. I like this landscape of the M25 and Heathrow. I like airfreight offices and rent-a-car bureaus. I like dual carriageways. When I see a CCTV camera, I know I'm safe. What I hate," Ballard leans closer to the tape-recorder with a smile, "is what I call heritage London. This is a new hate of mine. Heritage London is not just Bloomsbury, Whitehall, the Tower of London. It's really middle-class London - Hampstead, Notting Hill, wherever you find these areas held together by a dinner-party culture."
Although admitting to being "very nostalgic" for his childhood, Ballard scorns the sentimental English love for the past. "We still believe that England is a land of gothic quadrangles and village greens, all that John Major rubbish about warm beer and spinsters cycling to evensong. Give us a break," he roars with laughter. "Living out here by the M25 I know this is the real England. This is the England that voted for Tony Blair, for cheap fights to the Seychelles and a more efficient NHS. Millions of people live out here and aren't interested in gothic quadrangles, for heaven's sake."
[..]
Kingdom Come has the familiar Ballard mix of absurdity, resonance and teasing humour. Among his favourite books he counts Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Moby Dick, Brave New World, Catch-22 - all self-contained worlds with their own bizarre logic. "Realism doesn't really suit the novel anymore. It simply cannot compete with the cinema, television or the TV commercial in creating a naturalistic image of the world. The novel is at its best when it creates its own world from scratch."
According to Ballard, however,"Life is filled with surrealist moments, if we only saw them... Human beings," he adds, "are the only members of the animal kingdom whose normal state of mind is pretty close to madness." As a boy, he witnessed much violence. He became distrustful of conventional reality. "I realised that what we think of as conventional reality - this quiet suburban street, for instance - is just a stage set that can be swept away." Ballard considers himself a libertarian. "I'm all for free sex, alcohol and would liberalise the drug laws if some way could be found to protect adolescents." As a writer, however, he says, "I do tend to moralise. I regret it. It turns you into a kind of salesman. I'm selling this season's hot new line: Psychopathology!" Ballard chuckles. "I do come on a bit hard sometimes through these ideas of mine. I sort of repeat myself, but I'm driving the message home."
Although admitting to being "very nostalgic" for his childhood, Ballard scorns the sentimental English love for the past. "We still believe that England is a land of gothic quadrangles and village greens, all that John Major rubbish about warm beer and spinsters cycling to evensong. Give us a break," he roars with laughter. "Living out here by the M25 I know this is the real England. This is the England that voted for Tony Blair, for cheap fights to the Seychelles and a more efficient NHS. Millions of people live out here and aren't interested in gothic quadrangles, for heaven's sake."
[..]
Kingdom Come has the familiar Ballard mix of absurdity, resonance and teasing humour. Among his favourite books he counts Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Moby Dick, Brave New World, Catch-22 - all self-contained worlds with their own bizarre logic. "Realism doesn't really suit the novel anymore. It simply cannot compete with the cinema, television or the TV commercial in creating a naturalistic image of the world. The novel is at its best when it creates its own world from scratch."
According to Ballard, however,"Life is filled with surrealist moments, if we only saw them... Human beings," he adds, "are the only members of the animal kingdom whose normal state of mind is pretty close to madness." As a boy, he witnessed much violence. He became distrustful of conventional reality. "I realised that what we think of as conventional reality - this quiet suburban street, for instance - is just a stage set that can be swept away." Ballard considers himself a libertarian. "I'm all for free sex, alcohol and would liberalise the drug laws if some way could be found to protect adolescents." As a writer, however, he says, "I do tend to moralise. I regret it. It turns you into a kind of salesman. I'm selling this season's hot new line: Psychopathology!" Ballard chuckles. "I do come on a bit hard sometimes through these ideas of mine. I sort of repeat myself, but I'm driving the message home."
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