Minus One

Last updated

"Minus One" is a short story by British author J. G. Ballard; it was first published in the June 1963 edition of Science Fantasy (Volume 20, Number 59). [1] It was later reprinted in the 1967 collection The Disaster Area , and then later in the larger The Complete Short Stories of J. G. Ballard: Volume 1 anthology (2006).

Contents

Plot summary

"Minus One" is set in Green Hill Asylum, whose motto is "There is a Green Hill Far, Far Away". It provides a private prison where the rich can incarcerate "miscreant or unfortunate relatives whose presence would otherwise be a burden or embarrassment". Security rather than treatment comes first and the asylum boasted that no-one had ever escaped, that is until the disappearance of a patient called Hinton. Thorough searches are conducted and staff questioned but no trace of him can be found. Dr. Mellinger, the director of the asylum leads the investigation and it transpires that nobody can remember much about him at all. Dr Mellinger realises that the patients are not being treated as individuals and decides that from then on the regime of Green Hill will change to take more interest in the individual. Still the disappearance of Hinton remains unexplained; Dr. Mellinger looks at Hinton's file and realises that it is the only evidence of him ever having existed. Fortuitously the file is then "lost" and the director announces that the disappearance was an administrative error and that Hinton had never really existed. All are happy until a visitor arrives at the hospital to see her husband. It is Mrs Hinton. As she is obviously suffering from delusions in need of treatment she is forcibly admitted as the story ends on the phrase "minus two".

Film adaptation

In 1991 it was made into a short film by Simon Brooks, [2] first shown at the Viareggio Film Festival. [3]

Related Research Articles

Involuntary commitment, civil commitment, involuntary hospitalization or involuntary hospitalisation, is a legal process through which an individual who is deemed by a qualified agent to have symptoms of severe mental disorder is detained in a psychiatric hospital (inpatient) where they can be treated involuntarily. This treatment may involve the administration of psychoactive drugs, including involuntary administration. In many jurisdictions, people diagnosed with mental health disorders can also be forced to undergo treatment while in the community; this is sometimes referred to as outpatient commitment and shares legal processes with commitment.

J. G. Ballard English writer (1930–2009)

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.

Arkham Asylum Fictional psychiatric hospital/prison by DC Comics

The Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane, commonly referred to as Arkham Asylum, is a fictional psychiatric hospital/prison, named after the city of Arkham which appeared first in the stories of H. P. Lovecraft, and later appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in stories featuring the superhero Batman. It first appeared in Batman #258, written by Dennis O'Neil with art by Irv Novick. The asylum serves as a psychiatric hospital for the Gotham City area, housing patients who are criminally insane, as well as select prisoners with unusual medical requirements that are beyond a conventional prison's ability to accommodate. Its high-profile patients are often members of Batman's rogues gallery.

<i>The Wind from Nowhere</i> 1961 novel by J. G. Ballard

The Wind from Nowhere is a science fiction novel by English author J.G. Ballard. Published in 1961, it was his debut novel. He had previously published only short stories.

Danvers State Hospital United States national historic place

The Danvers State Hospital, also known as the State Lunatic Hospital at Danvers, The Danvers Lunatic Asylum, and The Danvers State Insane Asylum, was a psychiatric hospital located in Danvers, Massachusetts. It was built in 1874, and opened in 1878, under the supervision of prominent Boston architect Nathaniel Jeremiah Bradlee, on an isolated site in rural Massachusetts. It was a multi-acre, self-contained psychiatric hospital designed and built according to the Kirkbride Plan.

Deep sleep therapy (DST), also called prolonged sleep treatment or continuous narcosis, is a discredited form of ostensibly psychiatric treatment in which drugs are used to keep patients unconscious for a period of days or weeks. The controversial practice led to the death of 25 patients in Chelmsford Private Hospital in New South Wales from the early 1960s to late 1970s.

<i>Low-Flying Aircraft and Other Stories</i> Collection of science fiction short stories by 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.

Fulbourn Hospital Hospital in Cambridge

Fulbourn Hospital is a mental health facility located between the Cambridgeshire village of Fulbourn and the Cambridge city boundary at Cherry Hinton, about 5 miles (8 km) south-east of the city centre. It is managed by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust. The Ida Darwin Hospital site is situated behind Fulbourn Hospital. It is run and managed by the same trust, with both hospitals sharing the same facilities and staff pool.

The Cartwright Inquiry was a committee of inquiry held in New Zealand from 1987 to 1988 that was commissioned by the Minister of Health, Michael Bassett, to investigate whether, as alleged in an article in Metro magazine, there had been a failure to treat patients adequately with cervical carcinoma in situ (CIS) at National Women’s Hospital (NWH) by Herbert Green, a specialist obstetrician and gynaecologist and associate professor at the Postgraduate School of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Auckland. The inquiry was headed by District Court Judge Silvia Cartwright, later High Court Justice, Dame and Governor-General of New Zealand. The Report of the Cervical Cancer Inquiry was released on 5 August 1988.

<i>Fragile</i> (film) 2005 Spanish film

Fragile is a 2005 Spanish-British horror film directed by Jaume Balagueró.

The Complete Short Stories of J. G. Ballard: Volume 1 is a short story collection by J. G. Ballard, published in 2006.

Donald F. Gleason was an American physician and pathologist, best known for devising the "Gleason score" which predicts the aggressiveness of prostate cancer in patients. He was a former chief of pathology at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center, and received three degrees from and taught at the University of Minnesota.

Lunatic asylum Place for housing the insane, an aspect of history

The lunatic asylum was an early precursor of the modern psychiatric hospital.

Central State Hospital (Virginia) Hospital in Virginia, United States

Central State Hospital, originally known as the Central Lunatic Asylum, is a psychiatric hospital in Petersburg, Virginia, United States. It was the first institution in the country for "colored persons of unsound mind".

Now: Zero is a short story by British author J. G. Ballard, released in 1959 in the December issue of Science Fantasy. It is included in The Complete Short Stories of J. G. Ballard: Volume 1.

Tone Vale Hospital Hospital in England

Tone Vale Hospital was a psychiatric hospital located approximately 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) to the north west of Norton Fitzwarren, near Taunton, Somerset, England, in what is now the village of Cotford St Luke. It covered a large catchment area, with patients originating from places as far apart as Porlock and Yeovil.

<i>Stonehearst Asylum</i> 2014 film

Stonehearst Asylum, previously known as Eliza Graves, is an American Gothic film directed by Brad Anderson and written by Joseph Gangemi. It is loosely based on the 1845 short story "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" by Edgar Allan Poe. The film, starring Kate Beckinsale, Jim Sturgess, Michael Caine, Ben Kingsley, and David Thewlis, was released on October 24, 2014. The Malayalam movie Athiran (2019) was reported to have been inspired by this movie.

Bellsdyke Hospital Former psychiatric hospital at Larbert, Falkirk from 1869 to 1997

Bellsdyke Hospital, also known as Stirling District Lunatic Asylum ('SDLA') or Stirling District Asylum, is a former psychiatric hospital at Larbert, Falkirk that was opened in June 1869 and largely closed in 1997. It was an asylum set up by the Stirling District Lunacy Board.

References

  1. ↑ "JG Ballard Book Cover Scans: 1962-63". The Terminal Collection. Retrieved January 6, 2009.
  2. ↑ "Ballardian: the World of J.G. Ballard » Simon Brook's Minus One". www.ballardian.com. Archived from the original on 2008-03-31.
  3. ↑ "Minus One [1991] @ EOFFTV". www.eofftv.com. Archived from the original on 2005-01-16.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.