The Day of Creation

infobox Book |
name = The Day of Creation
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = Cover of first edition (hardcover)
author = J. G. Ballard
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United Kingdom
language = English
series =
genre = Novel
publisher = Victor Gollancz Ltd
release_date = 1987
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
pages = 254 pp
isbn = ISBN 0-575-04152-8
preceded_by =
followed_by = "The Day of Creation" is a 1987 novel by J. G. Ballard.

Plot summary

The main character of the novel is the World Health Organization doctor John Mallory who, six months after his arrival in Central Africa, finds that intense guerilla activity has left him without patients. He devotes himself, instead, to the task of bringing water to the region, with dreams of setting the Sahara in flower. When he accidentally manages to achieve his task by creating a river, he becomes prey of an increasingly delirious spiral of fantasies, starting to identify himself with the new river that he has dubbed "Mallory". Obsessed, he decides to go up the river in order to "kill" its source, together with a teenaged African girl, whom he considers a sort of spirit of the waters, and other characters including a half-blind British documentary film-maker and two ruthless local chieftains trying to take advantage of the new prosperity brought by the water.

The conclusion of this feverish odyssey might be compared to Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness"

External links

* [http://www.rickmcgrath.com/jgb.html The Terminal Collection: JG Ballard First Editions]