Customer Reviews

The Angle Between Two Walls: The Fiction of J. G. Ballard

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I read the only information that Amazon had posted on this title, a seemingly dry academic table of contents, and decided to go for it. I was desperately curious to see what kind of analysis this was about Ballard, and my chance was richly rewarded. I do have one caveat: this IS a dense academic analysis. As an intense Ballard fan and possessing a graduate degree, I fell in love with the book. As author Roger Luckhurst points out, Atrocity Exhibition is a hard title to have a discussion about. If you've been searching for someone to analyze Ballard with, get this title and join Roger.

The title refers to Ballard's nebulous place between mainstream and science fiction, the "angle between two walls." Luckhurst points out the attempts that have been made to categorize Ballard, but that's the last thing he is attempting to do here. Instead Luckhurst focuses on several of the major themes and processes at work inside Ballard's fiction: surrealism, globalism, catastrophe. The chapter analyzing Vermilion Sands was amazing. Reading Roger discuss the readability AND unreadability of Ballard's work, I knew I had found a kindred Ballardian. Hardcore fans, this is the second most required about-Ballard title after the Re/Search #8/9 Ballard book.