“Retreat Ahead”? F. Scott Fitzgerald, Andy Warhol, and J.G. Ballard.

The Atrocity Exhibition by J.G.Ballard (Wikipedia)

“There is only one way left to escape the alienation of present day society: to retreat ahead of it.”
-Roland Barthes, The Pleasure of the Text

When I read Barthes’ quote above it was, of course, anything but straightforward to understand what he was getting at. Of course, its point and significance lie in our attempt — if…