 Cover of first edition (hardcover) | |
| Author | J. G. Ballard |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Surrealism, Postmodernism, Science fiction |
| Publisher | Jonathan Cape |
Publication date | 1979 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| Pages | 223 |
| ISBN | 0-09-976941-7 |
The Unlimited Dream Company is a novel by British writer J. G. Ballard, first published in 1979. It was nominated for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award in 1980. It won the British Science Fiction Association Award in the same year. [1]
In The Unlimited Dream Company, a man named Blake crashes a stolen aircraft into the River Thames outside the Surrey suburb of Shepperton. [2] Whether he survives the crash, to become a sort of supernatural messiah for the small town, or if he actually drowns, and dying, imagines the whole thing, is never truly revealed. [3] Contradictory hints are scattered throughout the novel which may support both interpretations.
Since the story is told by Blake in the first person, we know what he wants us to know, and we are only told what he chooses to tell us. In the first chapter of the novel, where Blake outlines his life before the air accident, there are elements that may make us suspect that he is insane, so that he is an absolutely unreliable narrator.
Blake has extraordinary powers: he can fly, heal sick people, phagocytize other people whenever he likes; but he cannot leave the suburbs, though he repeatedly tries to get away. Moreover, Blake is obsessed by the relic of the small Cessna aircraft that he crash-landed on, which has been left submerged in the Thames. This might support the hypothesis that he is dead and is only imagining the strange events of the story.
However, there is a crucial moment when Blake, who is about to absorb all the citizens of Shepperton in order to gain energy to escape the suburb, is shot by Stark, another loner who manages a rickety zoo. The wound triggers a deep inner change in the character, who gets rid of his cannibalistic drives and becomes more human and compassionate. He then helps other people to escape Shepperton, and remains there alone, waiting for the return of the woman he loves, Miriam St. Cloud.
As well as the protagonist's name, the novel draws on the works of William Blake, [4] particularly his epic work Milton: A Poem [5] in other ways. The surreal descriptions of Shepperton's transformation are drawn in part from William Blake's psychogeographical descriptions of London, while the final confrontation between Blake and the corpse of the drowned pilot (which he comes to realise is himself) echoes that between Milton and Satan at the end of Milton a Poem.
Crash is a novel by English author J. G. Ballard, first published in 1973 with cover designed by Bill Botten. It is a story about car-crash sexual fetishism: its protagonists become sexually aroused by staging and participating in real car-crashes, inspired by the famous accidents of celebrities.
James Graham Ballard was an English novelist, short story writer, satirist, and essayist known for provocative works of fiction which explored the relations between human psychology, technology, sex, and mass media. He first became associated with the New Wave of science fiction for post-apocalyptic novels such as The Drowned World (1962), but later courted controversy for works such as the experimental short story collection The Atrocity Exhibition (1970), which included the 1968 story "Why I Want to Fuck Ronald Reagan", and the novel Crash (1973), a story about a renegade group of car crash fetishists.
Christopher Riche Evans was a British psychologist, computer scientist, and author.
Christopher Priest is a British novelist and science fiction writer. His works include Fugue for a Darkening Island, The Inverted World, The Affirmation, The Glamour, The Prestige, and The Separation.
The Atrocity Exhibition is an experimental novel of linked stories or "condensed novels" by British writer J. G. Ballard.
Shepperton is an urban village in the Borough of Spelthorne, Surrey, approximately 15 mi (24 km) south west of central London. Shepperton is equidistant between the towns of Chertsey and Sunbury-on-Thames. The village is mentioned in a document of 959 AD and in the Domesday Book.
Vermilion Sands is a collection of science fiction short stories by British writer J. G. Ballard, first published in 1971. All the stories are set in an imaginary vacation resort called Vermilion Sands which suggests, among other places, Palm Springs in southern California. The characters are generally the wealthy and disaffected, or people who make a living off them, as well as parasites of various kinds.
The Burning World is a 1964 science fiction novel by British author J. G. Ballard. An expanded version, retitled The Drought, was first published in 1965 by Jonathan Cape.
The Terminal Beach is a collection of science fiction short stories by British author J. G. Ballard, published in 1964.
The Drowned World is a 1962 science fiction novel by British writer J. G. Ballard. The novel depicts a post-apocalyptic future in which global warming caused by heightened solar radiation has rendered much of the Earth's surface uninhabitable. The story follows a team of scientists researching environmental developments in a flooded, abandoned London. The novel is an expansion of a novella of the same title first published in Science Fiction Adventures magazine in January 1962, Vol. 4, No. 24.
Hello America is a science fiction novel by British writer J. G. Ballard, published in 1981. First edition cover designed by Bill Botten. The plot follows an expedition to a North America rendered uninhabitable by an ecological disaster following an energy crisis.
The Day of Creation is a 1987 novel by British writer J. G. Ballard.
Low-Flying Aircraft and Other Stories is a collection of science fiction short stories by British writer J. G. Ballard published in 1976.
Memories of the Space Age is a collection of science fiction stories by British writer J. G. Ballard. It was released in 1988 by Arkham House. It was published in an edition of 4,903 copies and was the author's first book published by Arkham House. The stories, set at Cape Canaveral, originally appeared in the magazines Ambit, Fantastic Stories, Fantasy and Science Fiction, Interzone, New Worlds and Playboy.
William Blake's body of work has influenced countless writers, poets and painters, and his legacy is often apparent in modern popular culture. His artistic endeavours, which included songwriting in addition to writing, etching and painting, often espoused a sexual and imaginative freedom that has made him a uniquely influential figure, especially since the 1960s. After Shakespeare, far more than any other canonical writer, his songs have been set and adapted by popular musicians including U2, Jah Wobble, Tangerine Dream, Bruce Dickinson and Ulver. Folk musicians, such as M. Ward, have adapted or incorporated portions of his work in their music, and figures such as Bob Dylan, Alasdair Gray and Allen Ginsberg have been influenced by him. The genre of the graphic novel traces its origins to Blake's etched songs and Prophetic Books, as does the genre of fantasy art.
"Track 12" is a short story by British author J. G. Ballard, it first appeared in the April 1958 edition of New Worlds. It then appeared in Penguin Science Fiction in 1961, Passport to Eternity, The Venus Hunters, The Overloaded Man, and later in The Complete Short Stories of J. G. Ballard: Volume 1.
Peter Ackroyd, is an English biographer, novelist and critic with a particular interest in the history and culture of London. For his novels about English history and culture and his biographies of, among others, William Blake, Charles Dickens, T. S. Eliot, Charles Chaplin and Sir Thomas More, he won the Somerset Maugham Award and two Whitbread Awards. He is noted for the volume of work he has produced, the range of styles therein, his skill at assuming different voices, and the depth of his research.
Chronopolis and Other Stories is a 1971 collection of science fiction stories by British writer J. G. Ballard. Originally published in the United States by Putnam, it was reprinted in paperback in 1972 by Berkley Books, under the title Chronopolis, subtitled "The Science Fiction of J. G. Ballard."
Climate fiction is literature that deals with climate change and global warming. Not necessarily speculative in nature, works may take place in the world as we know it or in the near future. The genre frequently includes science fiction and dystopian or utopian themes, imagining the potential futures based on how humanity responds to the impacts of climate change. Technologies such as climate engineering or climate adaptation practices often feature prominently in works exploring their impacts on society. Climate fiction is distinct from petrofiction which deals directly with the petroleum culture and economy.
The year 1930 was marked, in science fiction, by the following events.
 | This article about a 1970s fantasy novel is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. See guidelines for writing about novels. Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page. |
 | This article about a postmodern novel is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. See guidelines for writing about novels. Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page. |