Pranks, Punk and Industrial Culture from V. Vale

“… the most exciting, stimulating and brilliantly conceived book I have read since Burroughs’ novels.” — J.G. Ballard

Guess which book this refers to? Martin Bax’s “The Hospital Ship” (copyright 1974, 1976; published by James Laughlin’s New Directions books in 1976). How many people have heard of Martin Bax? He published a literary/art periodical, AMBIT, which featured a number of Ballard’s short stories, and visited the RE/Search office back in the early eighties (have to track down that photo I took of him).

After the acknowledgements section, the book quotes W. H. Auden’s “Spain 1937″: “Tomorrow the rediscovery of romantic love…” But one seriously wonders if this will ever be possible again, in our age of the gargantuan blogosphere dwarfing, inundating, overwhelming all potential relationships before they have a chance to bloom slowly. No, relationships are expected to enact their own bell curve at warp speed. The average wealthy/”hip” New Yorker, working the Internet MySpace/Facebook/etc people farms, can churn through 25 relationships a month — easily. That’s 300 people a year — in your bed??!

But back to “The Hospital Ship,” a metaphor for the handful of independent enterprises (like Hypnodrome, RE/Search, SRL, The Crucible, monochrom) trying to create T.A.Z.’s (temporary autonomous zones) evocative of “real” lasting creative stimulating humor-filled relationships. Meanwhile, the world is becoming absolutely filled with “victims of mass psychosis” who THINK they’re “normal” but are incapable of a relationship longer than … well, they suffer from “total loss of both social and individual stability.”

The chapter titled “Joint Consultation” features Coma and Kline, whom J.G. Ballard readers will recognize: “Coma” had been a classic neurotic. Massive mood swings dominated her personality. Sometimes she sat for hours in the corner of a room like an inconveniently placed statue, then, late at night, she would become manically active, call her friends on the telephone, talk to them for hours and then, when they hung up on her, dramatically slash her wrists. She had numerous liaisons with men who despised her, told them she was a masochist and then went to [lawyers] with stories of assault when they tried to beat her…”

The references for “The Hospital Ship” cite J.G. Ballard’s “The Sound Sweep,” “Terminal Beach,” and “Crash.” Actually, the reference section is possibly the most illuminating part of this novel, and reads like a wake-up call for readers (like yours truly) who definitely do not read enough rigorous, challenging, scientific, “classic” material. Has anybody heard of “Michael Robartes and The Dancer” (1921) by William Butler Yeats? Now I want a copy…