The Atrocity Exhibition

Let's try to keep this elegant and see how long it'll last.

Well, starting off, after the first chapter I was completely lost. The narrative style is unfamiliar to me and seems to ask a lot of the reader. Maybe I'm dense, maybe my brain is still in summer hibernation, but I couldn't pull myself into this book.

The most interesting parts of the book, I found, were the comments provided by Ballard at the end of each chapter. While I realize that this is a book about how the human condition, the way we live and interact with our environment that is now covered in this thick lacquer of consumerism and the repetition of images selected by the media, I just could not get this book. All the references to Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Ralph Nader (to wit, I must mention I had a dream about thanks to the Atrocity Exhibition. Thanks J.G.) and JFK seem to be lost on me. They really have no resonance and I kind of shrugged them off with a "Meh."

The one public personality that did resonate though was the section entitled "Why I Want to Fuck Ronald Regan" I suppose it's the fact that he's dead, and the idea of throwing his corpse into an automobile crash simulator is some what stimulating. But beyond that inadequate and superficial reading, I really don't know what to make of this novel.One final point, in terms of copying and copies, I think this novel reads somewhat, in some places, like slash-fiction. While it's true this piece of fiction is an exploration of the human condition in terms of our relation to celebrities and people in the media, it's interesting to note that The Atrocity Exhibition has that subversive slant that takes stabs at celebs, while at the same time trying to make sense of their personal tragedies.

Questions/Concerns

Is there a narrative in this piece? That sounds like a seriously lacking-upstairs kind of question, but what I mean is: is there a narrative that goes through the entire text? If there is it went completely over my head.

In the earlier chapters Ballard mentioned "automatic writing" I'm familiar with this and can't help but wonder what percentage of The Atrocity Exhibition was written in this matter.

While the inside jacket of the novel describes the novel as: "a disturbing book." I wonder what effect it has on those in my generation. Are we all apathetic or is it just me? I realize the magnitude and horror of Nagasaki and Hiroshima as mentioned in the Atrocity Exhibition, but only if I think past the images of mushroom clouds. But is that just because of the repetitive images or is it about the temporal distance from my place in history? But the images of Naw'lins... to me they are just images. Just like Hiroshima, I have to really really think about the horror of the situation to actually feel something. That makes me a shitty global citizen, doesn’t it?

I guess that's what I get from growing many layers of thick, calloused, dead skin to prevent comments and rejections from publishers who say my work is shit from hitting a nerve.