Reading J.G. Ballard’s final novel (Kingdom Come). He perfectly explains the link between consumerism and the rise of “suburban fascism”. It was written 20 years ago but it feels like it should have been released last week.
What speculative fiction have you read that feels like it perfectly predicted the future?
Ballard is more than worth reading. Novels and shorts stories alike. He nailed consumerism so perfectly it’s frightening.
To me, one of the most striking book I ever read was ‘Brave New World’ (edit: I read it when I was not even a teen yet (now well into my 50s). It touched me lot more than ‘1984’, that was also very striking mind you. Then, it would be ‘Fahrenheit 451’ both Bradbury’s original 1952 novel and Truffaut’s 1966 brilliant adaptation. Contrary to what most people will tell you, the real focus in Fahrenheit is on the place and role of TV in that a-cultured society more than the book burning part, imho. Replace ‘TV’ with ‘social media’ to make it more contemporary.
Bradbury was a book lover, and an avid reader. He also knew quite well the sad times it announces when a society as a whole stops considering reading books an incredibly valuable activity, or even just something remotely interesting.
Edit: clarifications.
I didn’t mind BNW, though Huxley didn’t appear to be particularly well versed in political theory. It felt very “everything is socialism (even Ford) and thus bad”. However, the actual story itself with the boy? Amazing. Plus, we totally ARE controlled by our vice and pleasure far more so than information restriction.
F451 I really, really enjoyed when I was younger…right up until the last scenes! Then it felt very…masturbatory.
Feed by MT Anderson, published in 2002 had a good take on how they algorithms and advertisements would run our lives.
For Titus and his friends, it started out like any ordinary trip to the moon — a chance to party during spring break. But that was before the crazy hacker caused all their feeds to malfunction, sending them to the hospital to lie around with nothing inside their .heads for days. And it was before Titus met Violet, a beautiful, brainy girl who has decided to fight the feed and its ever-present ability to categorize human thoughts and desires. M.T. Anderson’s not-so-brave new world is a smart, savage satire that has captivated readers with its view of an imagined future that veers unnervingly close to the here and now.
Oo not heard of this one! Thanks for the rec.
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