James Ballard’s Chilling Drought Novel in Persian

TEHRAN.(Iranart) – T he Drought, an apocalyptic book by English novelist and essayist James Graham Ballard (1930-2009) was released in Persian by the Tehran-based publishing house of Cheshmeh.

Ballard’s book was originally published in 1965. The book describes the world on the brink of extinction, where a global drought is brought on by overpopulation and industrial waste.

After half a century, the description of the book has become too palpable, in particular for countries with arid and semi-arid climates, including Iran.

Veteran translator Ali-Asghar Bahrami has rendered the book in Persian in 260 pages, Honaronline reported.

Ballard first became associated with the new wave of science fiction for his post-apocalyptic novels such as “The Wind From Nowhere” (1961) and “The Drowned World (1962). New wave originated in the 1960s and lasted until the end of 1970s. It was characterized by a high degree of experimentation, both in form and in content, a literary or artistic sensibility, and a focus on “soft” as opposed to hard, precise science.

Like so many of Ballard’s books, The Drought carries eerie hints about humanity’s accelerating race to stay ahead of nature, according to a review in Npr.org.

The Drought is part of a series of dystopian science-fiction novels that Ballard wrote in the 1960s before he became famous for works like “Crash” and “Empire of the Sun”.

In the novel, a drought has dried out the planet. Crushed by heat and the never-ending quest for water, the remnants of the human race have resigned themselves to this slow-motion apocalypse.

Climate change is the culprit, but Ballard was no environmentalist. A former medical student, he picks apart civilization as if he were performing an autopsy. He never moralizes or suggests answers. The Drought is more concerned with how the collapse of society might transform people’s fundamental view of reality, and how reality can be shaped by nightmares as well as dreams.

source: Financial Tribune