num_pages: 198
description: First published in 1962 J.G. Ballard's mesmerizing and ferociously prescient novel imagines a terrifying future in which solar radiation and global warming have melted the polar ice caps and Triassic-era jungles have overrun a submerged and tropical London. Set during the year 2145 the novel follows biologist Dr. Robert Kerans and his team of scientists as they confront a surreal cityscape populated by giant iguanas albino alligators and endless swarms of malarial insects. Nature has swallowed all but a few remnants of human civilization and slowly Kerans and his companions are transformedboth physically and psychologicallyby this prehistoric environment. Echoing Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darknesscomplete with a mad white hunter and his hordes of native soldiersthis powerful and beautifully clear (Brian Aldiss) work becomes a thrilling adventure and a haunting examination of the effects of environmental collapse on the human mind.
language: English
title: The Drowned World
publisher: Liveright