Collins English Dictionary has added the tern “Ballardian” to its lexicon, defining it as follows:
Ballardian : (adj) 1. of James Graham Ballard (born 1930), the British novelist, or his works (2) resembling or suggestive of the conditions described in Ballard’s novels and stories, esp. dystopian modernity, bleak man-made landscapes and the psychological effects of technological, social or environmental developments.
It is worth noting that most of the science fiction novels that have “crossed over” to become accepted as literary masterpieces have emphasized the Ballardian aspects of their narratives. We have Orwell’s 1984 , Huxley’s Brave New World , Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale , Cormac McCarthy’s The Road , and (of course) the novels by the ultimate Ballardian author, J.G. Ballard, who continues to inspire not just lexicographers but a host of fans with his provocative oeuvre.
Ballard was perhaps more influenced by surrealism and William S. Burroughs than by Hugo Gernsback and Amazing Magazine . As a result, his writing is completely free of the pulp fiction trappings that degrade so much of what passes for sci-fi. The closest equivalent in fiction to The Crystal World may, in fact, be Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness which, like Ballard’s novel, tells the tale of a visitor into the depths of jungle who stumbles into an unexpected and nightmarish encounter with the dark side.
English doctor Edward Sanders arrives at river port city in Gabon, from which he hopes to journey to a leprosy treatment center. But he hears of a mysterious disorder that is spreading through the jungle. Some type of virus is transforming the landscape, its contents and inhabitants into crystal. Little can be done to counter this terrestrial cancer, although jewels seems to have some power to liquefy the crystals.
Other writers would highlight the global pandemic, and focus on the effects of this virus spreading to London, New York, Paris, Moscow and the like. But Ballard keeps doggedly fixed on the intimate and personal nature of this situation. Also, he relies on the malignity of the crystals to inspire a type of icy landscape writing – a strange transference of a picturesque arctic narrative into the midst of the jungle.
This is poised work by a fine writer. Those raised on bloodier and bolder Armageddon tales may find the pacing slow, but readers who are coming to sci-fi after long familiarity with literary fiction will enjoy Ballard as a bridge between these two, often incommensurable, worlds.