The idea of the garden as a place of sinister seclusion has found its way to the world of high fashion.
In Ballard’s characteristically bleak tale, a desperate mob advances on an elegant garden, where Count Axel and his wife live out a civilized, secluded existence.
The selfish gardener of the 21st century creates idyllic vistas that rely on fertilizers and pesticides that poison the wider ecosystem or demand water in a time of drought.
In her gripping memoir of the Second World War, “War in Val d’Orcia,” she describes a similar tide of desperate humanity approaching her garden gate.
Unlike Ballard’s Count Axel, she didn’t seek to repel them, retiring to the library to dust her statues.
Persons:
J.G ., Count Axel, Anna Wintour, Iris Origo, Val d’Orcia, Christopher Lloyd, Fergus Garrett, Garrett
Organizations:
Vogue
Locations:
J.G . Ballard, La Foce, Tuscany, Val, England