J. G. Ballard: Humanity

J. G. Ballard was British writer. Explore interesting quotes on humanity.
J. G. Ballard: 156   quotes 7   likes

“Human beings today … are surrounded by huge institutions we can never penetrate”

J. G. Ballard

"Kafka in the Present Day", originally published in [London] Sunday Times (1983)
A User's Guide to the Millennium (1996)
Context: Human beings today … are surrounded by huge institutions we can never penetrate: the City [London's Wall Street], the banking system, political and advertising conglomerates, vast entertainment enterprises. They've made themselves user friendly, but they define the tastes to which we conform. They're rather subtle, subservient tyrants, but no less sinister for that.

“Art is the principal way in which the human mind has tried to remake the world in a way that makes sense.”

J. G. Ballard

"JG Ballard: Theatre of Cruelty" interview by Jean-Paul Coillard in Disturb ezine (1998) http://www.jgballard.ca/interviews/colliard_interview_1998.html
Context: Art is the principal way in which the human mind has tried to remake the world in a way that makes sense. The carefully edited, slow-motion, action replay of a rugby tackle, a car crash or a sex act has more significance than the original event. Thanks to virtual reality, we will soon be moving into a world where a heightened super-reality will consist entirely of action replays, and reality will therefore be all the more rich and meaningful.

World , Art , Way , Sense

“The human body as an obedient coolie, to be fed and hosed down”

J. G. Ballard book Super-Cannes

"Dr. Wilder Penrose"
Super-Cannes (2000)
Context: The human body as an obedient coolie, to be fed and hosed down, and given just enough sexual freedom to sedate itself.

“Some people didn't like the novel, it is in some ways extremely bleak. But if you are dealing with the kind of subjects I am — trying to demystify the delusions we have about ourselves, to get a more accurate fix on human nature — then people are unsettled. And the easiest way to deal with that is to say it's weird or it's cold.”

J. G. Ballard

The benign catastrophist (2003)

People , Way , Nature

“A car crash harnesses elements of eroticism, aggression, desire, speed, drama, kinesthetic factors, the stylizing of motion, consumer goods, status — all these in one event. I myself see the car crash as a tremendous sexual event really: a liberation of human and machine libido”

J. G. Ballard

if there is such a thing
Interview in Penthouse (September 1970)

Cars , Speed

“I wanted to rub the human face in its own vomit and force it to look in the mirror.”

J. G. Ballard

On the reasons why he wrote Crash, as quoted in "From Wales, A World Apart" by Jeff Miers in Buffalo News (7 January 2005); also in "The Body Horrific : Cronenberg Classics at the IFC Center" by David Sharko at Tribeca Film (17 February 2009) http://www.tribecafilm.com/news-features/features/david_cronenberg.html
Unsourced variant: "I wanted to rub humanity's face in its own vomit and force it to look in the mirror."

“My brief stay at the hospital had already convinced me that the medical profession was an open door to anyone nursing a grudge against the human race.”

J. G. Ballard book Crash

Crash (1973)

“Art is the principal way in which the human mind has tried to remake the world in a way that makes sense. The carefully edited, slow-motion, action replay of a rugby tackle, a car crash or a sex act has more significance than the original event. Thanks to virtual reality, we will soon be moving into a world where a heightened super-reality will consist entirely of action replays, and reality will therefore be all the more rich and meaningful.”

J. G. Ballard

"JG Ballard: Theatre of Cruelty" interview by Jean-Paul Coillard in Disturb ezine (1998) https://www.jgballard.ca/media/1998_disturb_magazine.html

Art , Sex , World , Reality