The Drowned World
BBC Radio 7
Broadcast March 2009
Robert Glenister reads JG Ballard's science fiction novel, set in a post-apocalyptic world where global warming has caused the polar ice-caps to melt.
From Wikipedia:
The Drowned World opens within the conventions of a hard science fiction novel, as the catastrophe responsible for the apocalypse is explained scientifically – solar radiation has caused the polar ice-caps to melt and worldwide temperature to soar, leaving the cities of northern Europe and America submerged in beautiful and haunting tropical lagoons. Yet Ballard’s novel is thematically more complex than is immediately apparent. Ballard uses the post-apocalyptic world of the story to mirror the collective unconscious desires of the main characters. A theme throughout Ballard’s writing is the idea that human beings construct their surroundings to reflect their unconscious drives. In The Drowned World, however, a natural catastrophe causes the real world to transform itself into a dream landscape, causing the central characters to regress mentally.
Set in the year 2145 in a post-apocalyptic and unrecognisable London, 'The Drowned World' is a setting of tropical temperatures, flooding and accelerated evolution. Ballard's story follows the biologist Dr Robert Kerans and his struggles against the devolutionary impulses of the environment. As part of a scientific study team sent to map the flora and fauna in the boiling lagoon, the tranquility and banality of their role is soon upheaved by the onset of strange dreams which increasingly plague the survivors' minds.
Duration - 2 hours total (4 episodes of 30 mins)
MPEG1.0 Layer 3
128kbps - 44kHz
Stereo
1-2 of 4
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The Drowned World by J.G. Ballard
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