Ballardian Archetypes

I'm almost done reading Millennnium People by J.G. Ballard. Ballard is best known for his novel Empire of the Sun, which was turned into a film by Spielberg, but I far prefer his weird dystopian science fiction, which is the bulk of his output. He, along with William Gibson and Jorge Luis Borges is the greatest inspiration for my own writing.

However, in the same way that all of Robertson Davies has one character, himself, I always have the same image in my head when I read Ballard. A sort of archetype of the educated English middle class. In my head this man (for it's always a man) is constructed of equal parts Ballard himself, Christopher Hitchens and Edward Fox, especially in Day of the Jackal. He is tall, slim and fair. Blue eyes, sandy fly-away hair. He is invariably dressed in leisurely clothing; pale linen suits, polo shirts or tennis shorts. Even if it says so in the text, in my head he never wears a tie. If it's cold he might wear tweed and a sweater.

The odd thing about all this is that it always the same. Even if it is the apocalypse, which it often is in his stories, he is still there in his linen suit and espadrilles. I'm not sure if this is a lack of imagination on my part or the authors. I wonder if my own characters suffer from this problem. So many of them are me.

The phtos above will give you an idea.

Richard