FROM THE GUT

paul · Joined: 03 Jun 2006 Posts: 476 Location: detroit

best of j g ballard's short stories.

voice of time
overloaded man

life changing.

eatcats · Joined: 28 Sep 2006 Posts: 131

i am reading the best of right now. what's funny about things (authors, movies..) that I notice sometimes is that certain things seem particularly (though unquantifiably) masculine to me, which makes me sort of engage in them less, personally. ballard's stories seem sort of masculine.. maybe just less personal or emotional and more analytical? i actually like the stories a lot, totally weird type of science fiction that i don't read as often.

Manhole 69 freaked me the fuck out, for some reason, insanity..

the overloaded man made me think of you paul, htouhg i didn't relate to it that well. i sew his behavior as being sort of escapist (obviously) which made me kindof dislike the main character. i am all for altering your perception of reality but he jsut sort of did the ultimate disengagement and then killed his wife and didn't feel anything.. i liked the IDEA of freeing your mind of precoceptions.. i guess the whole point is the postapocalyptic future thing where we're all fucked so who the fuck cares.. how can you take this idea in a more constructive way.. you know? like, he should do that shit and then make a painting ( like you do p)

the voices of time IS REALLY Good. that's what i mean by a slightly more positive take on the postapocalyptic future.. like, still ambiguous but at least its about connecting with something.. sort of.. insanity in the way that you gain a greater underestanding..

i read this shit on the way to work and it sort of makes me feel like.. not very good about going to work, so i think i am going to put it down for a while. i am reading the garden of time now.

paul · Joined: 03 Jun 2006 Posts: 476 Location: detroit

i really didnt pick up on it being masculine. it is very analytical. which i get into alot. but compared to the borges style of writting( the two authors to have alot of similarities) i find it to be much more engaging emotionaly. overall i felt the whole book had this creeping feeling of suffocation which i really havent come across in other books.

as for the overloaded man i thought it was a pretty and poetic look at going insane.especially the suicide of the main character. not to mention that might be the first time ive read something that has come very close to how my brain works with the visual world.

voices of time made me feel like my brain was melting
you know? some of the stories were too visceral but in a good way

.

did you read the attorcity exibition or the terminal beach?
those one got a bit too insane for me. shit how is this guy not crazy.

syphilissauna · Joined: 27 Mar 2007 Posts: 398 Location: Pittsburgh

Concrete Island is still one of my favorite stories of all time .. Its scary .. the very idea scares the hell out of me i mean .. to be surrounded by people and none of them will or can help ..and then towards the end your not sure if MAitland was just crazy or what ... .. also High rise is bad ass (come on ! people breaking down into class tribes and hunting each others dogs ! ) .. i like ballard because he seems to have this good grip on how evil (yet strangely "normal") many of the "hi powered business types of the 80's-90's" were .. his views on senor cyborg down at the office are perrrty revealing
as to him being overtly masculine i sorta disagree because alot of his female characters call the shots .. even if the protaganist is male usually .. like in Cocaine nights the main character is totally this old writer type who basically gets told what to do alot by his young wife ..
I remember trying to read CRash as a teenager and not being able to finish it because it was toooo damn HOTT (i tried later with a bit more successs)
yeah i keep trying to get people to make a short rendition of "concrete island " with me but am having trouble finding a scarred X circus feak that we can ride around on ..
if you know of any .....

charlie · Joined: 05 Nov 2006 Posts: 355 Location: DETROIT

I think Crash is one of the most erotic books ever,right next to Tropic of Cancer..
i dont know what that says about me though.... Shocked

syphilissauna · Joined: 27 Mar 2007 Posts: 398 Location: Pittsburgh

indeed both of em are eROTic .. the best kind : real

statas · Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Posts: 216

crash is one of my favorites...
voices of time is also good...

but ballard has his misses...i can't remember the name, but it was after the world's water supply was evaporating... positively unreadable, and i've only ever given up on a handful of books in my life...