The Drowned World

The Drowned World is a cli-fi novel by J.G. Ballard, a renowned sci-fi novelist who commonly used climate disasters as the basis for his novels. This story begins in 2145 in what was once London, though the main character questions what the city used to be (Berlin, Paris, London?). Average temperatures at the equator have risen to 180 degrees and the polar ice caps have melted. Europe, where the story is set so far, is a system of giant garbage filled lagoons. Most of the Earth’s population is located within the arctic and Antarctic circles. There are thermal storms that result from trapped air being heated rapidly and exploding upwards. Though it is not obvious in humans yet, all organisms are evolving in order to survive the rising temperatures. This has resulted in mosquitos “the size of dragonflies” (that carry new strains of malaria), hammer-nosed bats, and giant iguanas. Contrary to the usual cli-fi plot, none of these problems emerged from human involvement, it was simply solar instability. Ballard does a great job of submerging his readers into this dystopian world in the first two sentences of this novel by opening the novel with the simple statement “Soon it would be too hot” and describing the “groves of giant gymnosperms crowding over abandoned department stores”.  

The story begins with a man, Robert Kerans, watching the sun rise from his balcony at the Ritz hotel. Kerans is described as a 40-year-old man with a deep amber tan and bleached hair due to the radio-fluorine in the water. He is a biologist who runs the nearby biological testing station and serves as his unit’s medical officer. Due to being medical officer he also commonly assists in evacuating any people still living in the city. He has been living out of this penthouse suite for six months, though it had previously been unoccupied for 10 years. He gets water through a still on the roof that purifies it and pipes it into the suite. The air conditioning still works, and little dust has collected in the suite. The first 6 stories of the building are below sea level. When Kerans finally leaves the hotel he is picked up by four men on a converted landing craft, one of which is Colonel Riggs. Kerans describes Riggs as intelligent and sympathetic, good humored but firm. Riggs tells Kerans he needs his help and asks him to take a day off from the station. After their voyage, Kerans brings Riggs back to his suite for drink. There Riggs tells Kerans that they will be packing up and leaving the area in three days. Apparently, water levels and temperatures are still rising and all the work they have done has been a waste. Kerans immediately seems concerned and tells Colonel Riggs that something has come up and he won’t be able to help him after all. Riggs responds with ‘I saw her last night’ and tells Kerans he will have to convince her to go. At this point, I still do not know who her is, but I do know that Kerans has a very strong relationship with her.  

At this point I am not very far into The Drowned World, but I can already tell I want to continue it for my final presentation. J.G. Ballard does a remarkable job of describing the setting in a way that makes the reader feel as though they are a part of it.