J. G. Ballard, The Drowned World

Jeannette Baxter (Anglia Ruskin University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Gina Lyle (University of Glasgow), Graham MacPhee (University of Manchester), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1962

Places

China (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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Published in 1962,

The Drowned World

established Ballard's reputation as a formidable talent amongst science fiction writers. More popular and commercially successful than his first novel (

The Wind From Nowhere

, 1962),

The Drowned World

was also critically acclaimed for its evocative prose style and ferocious imagination. Forty years later, the reach of Ballard's mesmerising poetics has earned the novel a place in science fiction's hall of fame. In 2001

The Drowned World

was remarketed as part of Gollancz's SF Masterworks series – a ‘library of the greatest SF ever written, chosen with the help of today's leading SF writers and editors.'

Set in 2145, The Drowned World is a haunting vision of post-apocalyptic London. Following the melting of the polar ice-caps through fluctuations in

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1293 words

Citation: Baxter, Jeannette. "The Drowned World". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 October 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=1018, accessed 04 May 2024.]

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J. G. Ballard, The Drowned World

Dates

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