The Drowned World

By: J. G. Ballard

Narrated by: Julian Elfer

A new generation discovers "the most original English writer of the last century" (China Miéville, The Nation).

Appearing in audio for the first time, this neglected Ballardian masterpiece promises to be a touchstone for environmentalists the world over.

First published in 1962, J.G. Ballard’s mesmerizing and ferociously imaginative novel not only gained him widespread critical acclaim but also established his reputation as one of the finest writers of a generation. The Drowned World imagines a terrifying world in which global warming has melted the ice caps and primordial jungles have overrun a tropical London. Set during the year 2145, this novel follows biologist Dr. Robert Kearns and his team of scientists as they confront a cityscape in which nature is on the rampage and giant lizards, dragonflies, and insects fiercely compete for domination. Both an unmatched biological mystery and a brilliant retelling of Heart of Darkness - complete with a mad white hunter and his hordes of native soldiers - this “powerful and beautifully clear” (Brian Aldiss) work becomes a thrilling adventure with “an oppressive power reminiscent of Conrad” (Kingsley Amis).

©1962 J.G. Ballard. Copyright renewed 1990 by J.G. Ballard. Introduction copyright 2012 by Martin Amis (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Great read from the 60s. Classic Stuff.

Will listen to this one again. I could feel the topical forest. Great take on the future.... from the 60s.

Didn’t live up to the hype for me

A good post apocalypse short story. I just didn’t take away anything new or groundbreaking. Maybe it’s because I am reading it in 2024 not the time it was written. Maybe it’s because something similar to this story is so ingrained as a nice version of the probable future.

Prophetic story about climate change

One of Ballard's smaller-scale novels, though I believe it is linked to a series of books with similar, environmentally themed stories. Amazing that he foresaw how important climate change would be, years before most people had even heard of the idea.

The writing of this thoughtful, psychological novel is very high quality, and I enjoyed listening to it, especially as read by the narrator. His pace and inflection are perfect, and the accents that he created for the dialogue are amazing. It's really a performance, not just a reading.

Great performance, curious story

I’ve been looking forward to read this novel for a long time, unfortunately I was not impressed. Each chapter’s plot seems to get lost in the description of the scenario, the whole book was a big beat around the bush with only a couple of interesting moments. What made me listen to it till the end was the performance, brilliant! Compelling and poignant.

Martin Amis Intro is Wrong

Ballard's last few novels very much predicted the world that we--or rather some of us--have lived in: technocrat neokiberalism gone amok, propped up by a media that doesn't really even pretend (very hard) to be honest anymore. We should be so lucky to live in the emotionally vacuous techno-psycho hellscapes from the last four Ballard novels. The Drowned World is nowhere as good as High-Rise, Unlimited Dream Company, Super-Cannes, or Ballard's later disaster novels The Drought or Hello America. But it's still the work of a surrealist master who wrote about death-dream isolation as no one else has ever done. The Amis introduction comes from a jealous Ballard wanna-be whose novels have none of the originality and unique strangeness that make Shanghai Jim's works feel like unnerving apocalypse poetry for the shellshocked survivors, or an infernal visitor-in-shadows, like quiet, coiled, complacency-shattering dream snakes with crimson eyes and ocean blue diamonds for scales. We're here for Ballard's artistry, not for the superfluous, egotistical introduction that has stunk up this audiobook as bad as did Neil Gaiman's unwanted LGB opening story to the Elric works of Ballard's friend Michael Moorcock.