Histomat: Adventures in Historical Materialism

'Historical materialism is the theory of the proletarian revolution.' Georg Lukács

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Alex Callinicos on J.G. Ballard

'a great subversive, and the world will be duller without him'. See also this piece, an interview from 2008 with James Campbell:

Ballard's conversation, like his writing, is regularly punctuated with inventories of the liberating spirit of technology. But with scarcely a twitch to indicate a change of direction, he explains that his most recent novel, Kingdom Come (2006), "posed the question: could consumerism turn into fascism? The underlying psychologies aren't all that far removed from one another. If you go into a huge shopping mall and you're looking down the parade, it's the same theatrical aspect: these disciplined ranks of merchandise, all glittering like fascist uniforms. When you enter a mall, you are taking part in a ceremony of affirmation, which you endorse just by your presence."

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1 Comments:

At 3:36 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

A perfect evocation of Ballard's handling of advanced consumerism.

Thank You.

 

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