Ballard's short stories explore the same dystopian modernity as his longer fictions, and The Garden of Time is no exception. The story is about the good-looking, sophisticated Count Axel and his wife, who live in a beautiful villa full of rare books, fine paintings, busts and vases. They live a decadent life on their beautiful estate, which includes an exquisite pool and garden. But outside the walls, the landscape is empty as far as the eye can see – until an unruly rabble appears in the distance. Each time Count Axel cuts a flower from his garden, however, time spools back, and the brutish mass recedes behind the hills.
But a long time has passed since plants last bloomed, and the Count is reduced to cutting the very last of his flowers to hold back the mob. When their garden is bare, he and his wife carefully put away their books, their music and all the treasures of their civilised life, preparing for it to come to an abrupt end.
The vivid, thought-provoking short story is often seen to act as a metaphor for the evolution of human history and the endless cycle of creation and destruction — a theme clearly mirrored in The Met's Sleeping Beauties exhibition
