''The Burning World'' is a 1964

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

novel by British author

J. G. Ballard James Graham Ballard (15 November 193019 April 2009) was an English novelist, short story writer, satirist, and essayist known for provocative works of fiction which explored the relations between human psychology, technology, sex, and mass medi ...

. An expanded version, retitled ''The Drought'', was first published in 1965 by

Jonathan Cape Jonathan Cape is a London publishing firm founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death in 1960. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard set up the publishing house in 1921. They established a reputation ...

Plot

In contrast to Ballard's earlier novel ''

The Drowned World ''The Drowned World'' is a 1962 science fiction novel by British writer J. G. Ballard. The novel depicts a post-apocalyptic future in which global warming caused by heightened solar radiation has rendered much of the Earth's surface uninhabit ...

'', ''The Burning World'' describes a world in which water is scarce. After an extensive

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

, rivers have turned to trickles and the earth to dust, causing the world's populations to head toward the oceans in search of water. The drought is caused by

industrial waste Industrial waste is the waste produced by industrial activity which includes any material that is rendered useless during a manufacturing process such as that of factories, mills, and mining operations. Types of industrial waste include dirt and ...

flushed into the ocean, which form an oxygen-permeable barrier of saturated long-chain polymers that prevents

evaporation Evaporation is a type of vaporization that occurs on the surface of a liquid as it changes into the gas phase. High concentration of the evaporating substance in the surrounding gas significantly slows down evaporation, such as when humidi ...

and destroys the precipitation cycle. The main focus of the book is on the

surrealistic Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

landscapes forming a changing setting symbolising the developing psychological conflicts and alienation of the principal character.

References

External links

The Terminal Collection: JG Ballard First Editions
1964 British novels 1964 science fiction novels 1965 British novels Berkley Books books British post-apocalyptic novels Climate change novels Jonathan Cape books Novels by J. G. Ballard Water scarcity in fiction {{1960s-sf-novel-stub