A story implied

J.G. Ballard, who liked to play around with unconventional literary structures, wrote a story in the form of an index.

 

In War Fever, “The Index” is an alphabetical list of people, places, and concepts for the autobiography of HRH (Henry Rhodes Hamilton), an autobiography that no longer exists.  Thus, the index is the whole story. Everything we want to know about HRH must be pieced together from the index entries.  For example:

Cambodia, HRH plans journey to, 188; crashes aircraft, 196; writes book about, 235; meetings with Malraux, 239; capture by insurgents, 253; escape, 261; writes second book about, 283

Fermi, Enrico, reveals first controlled fission reaction to HRH, 299; terminal cancer diagnosed by HRH, 388; funeral eulogy read by HRH, 401

Oswald, Lee Harvey, befriended by HRH, 350; inspired by HRH, 354; discusses failure of the Presidency with HRH, 357–61; invites HRH to Dallas, 372

Wight, Isle of, incarceration of HRH, 712–69