Setting

Physical setting

The novel Running Wild by J.G. Ballard is set in Pangbourne Village, a residential community in West London. It was a luxury housing estate built by Camelot Holdings Ltd, for a select community of people who can afford it. In the novel, there were ten families living in Pangbourne Village, five of them on The Avenue, and four of them on The Hill. The area was enclosed by steel mesh-fence fitted with electrical alarms and guarded by surveillance cameras and security guards. The domestic staff was carefully selected. Pangbourne’s location offered convenient access to routes leading to central London, where most of the residents worked. 

Pangbourne Village was marketed as the perfect home, an idyllic place, almost like a utopia. A real-estate documentary was in the works to show its success and lead to the creation of...