Stated First American Edition. A fine copy in a fine condition dust jacket.
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J.G. Ballard was born in 1930 in Shanghai, where his father was a businessman. After internment in a civilian prison camp, he and his family returned to England in 1946. His 1984 bestseller Empire of the Sun won the Guardian Fiction Prize and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. It was later filmed by Steven Spielberg. His controversial novel Crash has recently been made into an equally controversial film by David Cronenberg. His most recent novels are Cocaine Nights and Super-Cannes.
Part spellbinding story, part fable for our time, Ballard's new novel is a vividly cinematic but nightmarish vision of a corrupted world. Dr. Mallory has come to a backward, drought-plagued and poverty ridden African country to run a WHO clinic, but constant warfare between a ragged band of guerrillas and the local chief of police has caused the tribal residents to flee. By accident, Mallory uncovers a mysterious stream that soon becomes a swiftly flowing river, and he dreams of creating a green Sahara and "saving" the Third World. Naming the river after himself and obsessively identifying with it, he immediately finds himself in conflict with Dr. Sanger, a charlatan maker of TV documentaries, who believes that his "flattering revision of nature was an act of creation as significant as the original invention of the river." Mallory undergoes a sinister change of heart, acknowledging a self-destructive impulse whose origins in his past are only dimly described. Suddenly deciding he must destroy the river, he travels toward its source on a derelict ferry with a former guerrilla, a 12-year-old girl he names Noon, and who progresses in a matter of weeks from Stone Age primitivism to a fascination with technology. Mallory encounters terrifying dangers at every stage of his quest. The area surrounding the river, which at first seemed Edenic, becomes poisoned by the water's now miasmic influence, the people along its banks falling deathly ill with fever and starvation. Mallory himself slides into full-fledged dementia and delirium as he battles the guerrillas, the militia and the forces of nature. In a narrative filled with ironies, Ballard's prose is honed and supple, often flowering into vivid lyricism. His characters are larger than life, each carrying the destructive impulses that decimate civilization. Some readers may resist the unrelievedly dark, ominous atmosphere, a profoundly depressing nightmare that goes on a little too long, and find that Mallory is too much an opaque, unsympathetic character, almost a device. Ballard's scorn for technological "marvels" (the makers of TV documentaries are "the conmen and the carpetbaggers of the late 20th century") sometimes overpowers his storytelling skills, and the roots of Mallory's suicidal obsession are never made clear. Yet this is a mesmerizing tale by a master of the craft, one that resonates with dark implications for the future of humanity on this planet.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Destination, rates & speedsSeller: Better World Books: West, Reno, NV, U.S.A.
Condition: Very Good. First Canadian Edition. Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in excellent condition. May show signs of wear or have minor defects. Seller Inventory # 53127024-75
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Seller: Better World Books, Mishawaka, IN, U.S.A.
Condition: Very Good. First Canadian Edition. Used book that is in excellent condition. May show signs of wear or have minor defects. Seller Inventory # 47970422-6
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Seller: Abacus Bookshop, Pittsford, NY, U.S.A.
hardcover. 1st. 8vo, 254 pp. Very good copy in very good dust jacket. Seller Inventory # 100191
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Seller: Books From California, Simi Valley, CA, U.S.A.
hardcover. Condition: Very Good. First Edition. First edition. Seller Inventory # mon0003725580
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Seller: Alta-Glamour Inc., Seattle, WA, U.S.A.
1st American Edition. 8vo. 254pp. On the arid, war-plagued terrain of central Africa, a manic doctor is consumed with visions of transforming the Sahara into a land of abundance. But Dr. Mallory's obsession quickly spirals dangerously out of control. Hardcover with dust jacket. Shelf and edgewear to boards and dust jacket; spine slightly cocked. Very Good. Seller Inventory # 92756
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Seller: Colewood Books, San Francisco, CA, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. 1st printing of 1st Canadian edition, Lester & Orpen Dennys hardcover w/ DJ, 1987. Book is VG, w/ clean text, solid binding. DJ is VG, w/ light edgewear that's a little heavier to top edge (includes small tear at upper front corner). Free delivery confirmation. Seller Inventory # SKU1016920
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Seller: Abacus Bookshop, Pittsford, NY, U.S.A.
hardcover. Condition: Fine copy in fine dust jacket. 1st. 8vo, 254 pp. Seller Inventory # 080204
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Seller: Half Price Books Inc., Dallas, TX, U.S.A.
hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority! Seller Inventory # S_449015395
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Seller: Montclair Book Center, Montclair, NJ, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: USED Good. Seller Inventory # 306942
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Seller: ThriftBooks-Atlanta, AUSTELL, GA, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 1.34. Seller Inventory # G0886191815I4N00
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