Cautionary Tales

The English science-fiction writer J. G. Ballard claimed to believe in nothing. Yet his prophetic dystopias reveal a deep awareness of the brutality of class rule and imperialism.

(Bettmann / Contributor)

The English science-fiction writer J. G. Ballard acquired a reputation as a prophet, but what did he believe in? In 1984, he told the small magazine Interzone. “I believe in the next five minutes,” he writes. “I believe in my own obsessions, in the beauty of the car crash, in the peace of the submerged forest, […]

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