Book Review : J.G Ballard - The Crystal World (1966)
* This review contains very mild spoilers *
Iconic British author J.G Ballard is most often described to be a science fiction writer. If you’ve read him, you know it isn’t exactly the case. Although he’s uncomfortably prescient, Ballard writes stories about alternate presents and people living in conditions similar to us. His early material was different, though. In The Crystal World, characters from the colonial era are confronted to a problem that seems to be alien. It’s not exactly science fiction either, but it’s much closer to it than his later material. The man did his own thing and eluded classification like a Ninja.
The Crystal World tells the story of Edward Sanders, a doctor running a leprosy treatment facility in Africa. He travels to the city of Port Matarre, hoping to reunite with his colleague and ex-mistress Suzanne. On his way through the jungle, he’s witness to a strange phenomenon: plants and animals start crystallizing around him. They’re literally turning into crystal and gemstones. Sanders and the other adventurers need to decide whether they keep going into the forest risking to change into crystal themselves or run for their lives and forget about what they came for.
Let’s get the elephant out of the room first: yes, it sounds a little bit like a science fiction retelling of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Ballard swore he hadn’t read it until years later, but the parallels are there and, quite frankly, they’re super interesting: Sanders is a well-meaning Marlow who’s British identity (his need to reunite with his mistress) clashes with the proclaimed nobility of his mission, Suzanne is a benevolent Kurtz who eventually leads a band of enlightened lepers into the forest, etc. Ballard might’ve been truthful and it might be an accident, but it’s there.
Heart of Darkness is all over this novel.
What’s most interesting in The Crystal World is that we got two doctors (Sanders and Suzanne), one priest (Balthus), one architect (Ventress) and one dirty-ass capitalist (Thoresen) facing the inexplicable. Medicine, religion, creativity and business facing something they have no control over whatsoever. These are the four pillars society turns to for answers and faced with a seemingly easy decision (surrender or flee), they’re too busy working on their own agenda to react. They eventually don’t solve the problem, but the problem eventually solves them.
This is how disasters happen. In The Crystal World, J.G Ballard fictionalized the social and psychological dynamics that lead to things like Chernobyl or the ongoing climate crisis. What can I say? The man was ahead of his time.
I really liked The Crystal World. Perhaps it’s not as fiercely smart and original as, let’s say High-Rise, but it’s weird and expertly controlled. There’s no other novel that feels even remotely close to this. Not even Heart of Darkness, which feels hopelessly dated compared to Ballard’s vision of the same themes. He clearly hadn’t found his voice yet, but he was already a strong and purposeful storyteller then. The Crystal World could be a great introduction to J.G Ballard because it’s not as out there and violent as his other books and also a treat for completists like me.
Read it. It’s worth your time.
7.5/10
