J. G. Ballard, Rushing to Paradise

Anja Mueller-Wood (Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Kerry Myler (Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1994

Places

United Kingdom (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel
Utopian / Dystopian

Resources

Rushing to Paradise (1994) is in many ways a typical Ballard novel, returning to the insular settings of Concrete Island (1974) and High Rise (1975), while at the same time foreshadowing the decadent worlds of Millennium People (2003) and Kingdom Come (2006). Most of the plot takes place in an isolated microcosm: the uninhabited Pacific island Saint-Esprit which, after being targeted by the French government for nuclear tests, is taken over by the radical animal activist Dr Barbara Rafferty under the pretence of saving a species of indigenous albatross from extinction. Yet this compassionate aim is gradually abandoned and the paradisiacal setting transformed into a totalitarian feminist commune ruled …

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1356 words

Citation: Mueller-Wood, Anja. "Rushing to Paradise". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 19 July 2011 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=2275, accessed 25 November 2024.]

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