Despite the conventional narrative of Empire of the Sun, Ballard is probably better known for the science fiction slant in his fiction, especially related to future, generally dystopian, societies.
His novel, High-Rise (I. G. H. in Europe) is the distillation of many elements of a dystopian future into a single high-rise building. The idea is good, although not that original (although a decidedly different and vastly superior novel, make sure you read Georges Perec’s Life A User’s Manual [La Vie mode d’emploi]). Ballard envisions a cluster of self-contained forty story condominiums, one of which is the focus of the novel.
What does an author need to transform a generally boring historical spoof on the state of pirates, global exploration, and religious persecution in the late fifteenth century? The obvious answer is an African gray parrot providing the narration and splattering it with more Yiddish terms than you’ll ever hear on the Grand Concourse.
I received several comments to my first list of twenty authors to add to your reading list, mostly suggesting additional authors I had not mentioned. In one case I responded that I actually had the suggested author on my list but I lost it when I reduced the list to only twenty names.
