James Graham Ballard (15 November 193019 April 2009) was an English novelist, short story writer,
satirist
This is an incomplete list of writers, cartoonists and others known for involvement in satire – humorous social criticism. They are grouped by era and listed by year of birth. Included is a list of modern satires.
Under Contemporary, 1930-196 ...
, and
essayist
An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal ...
known for provocative works of fiction which explored the relations between
human psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...
, technology, sex, and mass media. He first became associated with the
New Wave of science fiction for
post-apocalyptic
Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; ast ...
novels such as ''
The Drowned World
''The Drowned World'' is a 1962 science fiction novel by British writer J. G. Ballard. The novel depicts a post-apocalyptic future in which global warming caused by heightened solar radiation has rendered much of the Earth's surface uninhabit ...
'' (1962), but later courted controversy for works such as the experimental
short story
A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...
collection ''
The Atrocity Exhibition
''The Atrocity Exhibition'' is an experimental novel of linked stories or "condensed novels" by British writer J. G. Ballard.
The book was originally published in the UK in 1970 by Jonathan Cape. After a 1970 edition by Doubleday & Company ...
'' (1970), which included the 1968 story "
Why I Want to Fuck Ronald Reagan
''Why I Want to Fuck Ronald Reagan'' is a short fictional work by English author J. G. Ballard, first published as a pamphlet by the Unicorn Bookshop, Brighton, in 1968. It was later collected in ''The Atrocity Exhibition''. It is written i ...
", and the novel ''
Crash
Crash or CRASH may refer to:
Common meanings
* Collision, an impact between two or more objects
* Crash (computing), a condition where a program ceases to respond
* Cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating
* Couch su ...
'' (1973), a story about a renegade group of car crash
fetishists.
In 1984, Ballard won broader recognition for his war novel ''
Empire of the Sun
''Empire of the Sun'' is a 1984 novel by English writer J. G. Ballard; it was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Like Ballard's earlier short story "The Dead Time" (published in the anthology ...
'', a semi-autobiographical account of a young British boy's experiences in Shanghai during
Japanese occupation; the story was adapted into a
1987 film directed by
Steven Spielberg. The author's journey from youth to mid-age would be chronicled, with fictional inflections, in ''
The Kindness of Women
''The Kindness of Women'' is a 1991 novel by British author J. G. Ballard, a sequel to his 1984 novel '' Empire of the Sun''. ''The Kindness of Women'' drew on the author's boyhood in Shanghai during World War II, presenting a lightly fictionali ...
'' (1991) and in direct autobiography in ''
Miracles of Life'' (2008). Several of his earlier works have been adapted into films, including
David Cronenberg's controversial 1996 adaptation ''
Crash
Crash or CRASH may refer to:
Common meanings
* Collision, an impact between two or more objects
* Crash (computing), a condition where a program ceases to respond
* Cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating
* Couch su ...
'' and
Ben Wheatley
Benjamin Wheatley (born 7 May 1972) is an English filmmaker and screenwriter. Beginning his career in advertising, Wheatley first gained recognition and acclaim for his commercials and short films, before transitioning into feature films and tel ...
's
2015 adaptation of Ballard's 1975 novel ''
High-Rise''.
The literary distinctiveness of Ballard's fiction has given rise to the adjective "
Ballardian
James Graham Ballard (15 November 193019 April 2009) was an English novelist, short story writer, satirist, and essayist known for provocative works of fiction which explored the relations between human psychology, technology, sex, and mass med ...
", defined by the ''
Collins English Dictionary
The ''Collins English Dictionary'' is a printed and online dictionary of English. It is published by HarperCollins in Glasgow.
The edition of the dictionary in 1979 with Patrick Hanks as editor and Laurence Urdang as editorial director, wa ...
'' as "resembling or suggestive of the conditions described in J. G. Ballard's novels and stories, especially
dystopian modernity
Modernity, a topic in the humanities and social sciences, is both a historical period (the modern era) and the ensemble of particular socio-cultural norms, attitudes and practices that arose in the wake of the Renaissancein the "Age of Reas ...
, bleak man-made landscapes and the psychological effects of technological, social or environmental developments". The ''
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
'' entry describes Ballard's work as being occupied with "
Eros
In Greek mythology, Eros (, ; grc, Ἔρως, Érōs, Love, Desire) is the Greek god of love and sex. His Roman counterpart was Cupid ("desire").''Larousse Desk Reference Encyclopedia'', The Book People, Haydock, 1995, p. 215. In the ear ...
,
Thanatos
In Greek mythology, Thanatos (; grc, Θάνατος, pronounced in "Death", from θνῄσκω ''thnēskō'' "(I) die, am dying") was the personification of death. He was a minor figure in Greek mythology, often referred to but rarely appea ...
, mass media and
emergent technologies".
Will Self
William Woodard Self (born 26 September 1961) is an English author, journalist, political commentator and broadcaster. He has written 11 novels, five collections of shorter fiction, three novellas and nine collections of non-fiction writing. Sel ...
‘Ballard, James Graham (1930–2009)’
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
'', Oxford University Press, January 2013. Retrieved 3 January 2013,
Life
Shanghai
![If 196303](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/If_196303.jpg)
Ballard's father, James (1901–1966), was a chemist at a
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
-based textile firm, the
Calico Printers' Association
The Calico Printers' Association Ltd was a British textile company founded in 1899, from the amalgamation of 46 textile printing companies and 13 textile merchants. The industry had prospered in the latter half of the 19th century but the fierce ...
, and became chairman and managing director of its subsidiary in Shanghai, the China Printing and Finishing Company.
His mother was Edna (1905–1998), née Johnstone.
Ballard was born and raised in the
Shanghai International Settlement
The Shanghai International Settlement () originated from the merger in the year 1863 of the British and American enclaves in Shanghai, in which British subjects and American citizens would enjoy extraterritoriality and consular jurisdictio ...
, an area under foreign control where people "lived an American style of life".
[ Pringle, D. (Ed.) and Ballard, J.G. (1982). "From Shanghai to Shepperton". ''Re/Search'' 8/9: J.G. Ballard: 112–124. .] He was sent to the
Cathedral School
Cathedral schools began in the Early Middle Ages as centers of advanced education, some of them ultimately evolving into medieval universities. Throughout the Middle Ages and beyond, they were complemented by the monastic schools. Some of these ...
, the Anglican Holy Trinity Church near
the Bund
The Bund or Waitan (, Shanghainese romanization: ''Nga3thae1'', , ) is a waterfront area and a protected historical district in central Shanghai. The area centers on a section of Zhongshan Road (East Zhongshan Road No.1) within the former Shan ...
, Shanghai. After the outbreak of the
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...
, Ballard's family were forced to evacuate their suburban home temporarily and rent a house in central Shanghai to avoid the shells fired by Chinese and Japanese forces.
After the
Japanese attack on Hong Kong, the Japanese occupied the International Settlement in Shanghai. In early 1943, they began to intern Allied civilians, and Ballard was sent to the
Lunghua Civilian Assembly Centre
Lunghua Civil Assembly Centre was one of the internment camps eventually established by the Empire of Japan in Shanghai for European and American citizens, who had been resident under Japanese occupation since December 1941. Many had formerly live ...
with his parents and younger sister. He spent over two years, the remainder of World War II, in the internment camp. His family lived in a small area in G block, a two-storey residence for 40 families. He attended school in the camp, the teachers being camp inmates from a number of professions. As he explained later in his autobiography ''
Miracles of Life'', these experiences formed the basis of ''Empire of the Sun'', although Ballard exercised considerable artistic licence in writing the book, such as the removal of his parents from the bulk of the story.
[Ballard, J.G. (4 March 2006).]
Look back at Empire
. ''The Guardian''. Retrieved 25 April 2009.
It has been supposed that Ballard's exposure to the atrocities of war at an impressionable age explains the apocalyptic and violent nature of much of his fiction.
[Hall, C.]
JG Ballard: Extreme Metaphor: A Crash Course in the Fiction Of JG Ballard
. Retrieved 25 April 2009.[Livingstone, D.B. (1996?).]
J.G. Ballard: Crash: Prophet with Honour
. Retrieved 12 March 2006. Martin Amis wrote that ''Empire of the Sun'' "gives shape to what shaped him".
Ballard's own account of the experience was more nuanced: "I don't think you can go through the experience of war without one's perceptions of the world being forever changed. The reassuring stage set that everyday reality in the suburban west presents to us is torn down; you see the ragged scaffolding, and then you see the truth beyond that, and it can be a frightening experience."
But also: "I have—I won't say ''happy''—not unpleasant memories of the camp.
..I remember a lot of the casual brutality and beatings-up that went on—but at the same time we children were playing a hundred and one games all the time!"
Ballard later became an atheist.
Britain and Canada
In late 1945, after the end of the war, his mother returned to Britain with Ballard and his sister on the SS ''Arawa''. They lived in the outskirts of
Plymouth, and he attended
The Leys School
The Leys School is a co-educational independent school in Cambridge, England. It is a day and boarding school for about 574 pupils between the ages of eleven and eighteen, and a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.
Histo ...
in Cambridge.
He won an essay prize whilst at the school but did not contribute to the school magazine.
After a couple of years his mother and sister returned to China, rejoining Ballard's father, leaving Ballard to live with his grandparents when not boarding at school. In 1949 he went on to study medicine at
King's College, Cambridge
King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the cit ...
, with the intention of becoming a
psychiatrist.
At university, Ballard was writing
avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
fiction heavily influenced by
psychoanalysis
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...
and
surrealist
Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...
painters. At this time, he wanted to become a writer as well as pursue a medical career. In May 1951, when Ballard was in his second year at Cambridge, his short story "The Violent Noon", a
Hemingwayesque pastiche written to please the contest's jury, won a crime story competition and was published in the student newspaper ''
Varsity''.
Encouraged by the publication of his story and realising that clinical medicine would not leave him time to write, Ballard abandoned his medical studies, and in October 1951 he enrolled at
Queen Mary College
, mottoeng = With united powers
, established = 1785 – The London Hospital Medical College1843 – St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College1882 – Westfield College1887 – East London College/Queen Mary College
, type = Public researc ...
to read English literature. He dropped out after a year to become a copywriter for an advertising agency,
after which he worked as an encyclopaedia salesman. He kept writing short fiction but found it impossible to get published.
In early 1954 Ballard joined the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
and was sent to the
Royal Canadian Air Force
The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...
flight-training base in
Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan
Moose Jaw is the fourth largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. Lying on the Moose Jaw River in the south-central part of the province, it is situated on the Trans-Canada Highway, west of Regina. Residents of Moose Jaw are known as Moose Javians ...
, Canada. There he discovered science fiction in
American magazines.
While in the RAF, he also wrote his first science fiction story, "Passport to Eternity", as a pastiche and summary of the American science fiction he had read. The story was not published until 1962.
Ballard left the RAF in 1955 after thirteen months and returned to England. In 1955 he married Helen Mary Matthews and settled in
Chiswick. Matthews was a secretary at the Daily Express. The first of their three children was born the following year. He made his science fiction debut in December 1956 with two short stories, "Escapement", published in ''
New Worlds
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz (South Korean band), The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* New (album), ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartn ...
'' and "Prima Belladonna", published in ''
Science Fantasy''.
The editor of ''New Worlds'',
Edward J. Carnell, remained an important supporter of Ballard's writing, and published nearly all of his early stories.
From 1958 Ballard worked as assistant editor on the scientific journal ''Chemistry and Industry''.
His interest in art led to his involvement in the emerging
Pop Art movement, and in the late 1950s he exhibited
collages that represented his ideas for a new kind of novel. Ballard's avant-garde inclinations did not sit comfortably in the science fiction mainstream of that time, which held attitudes he considered philistine. Briefly attending the 1957
World Science Fiction Convention in London, Ballard left disillusioned and demoralised and did not write another story for a year. By 1965, however, he had become an editor of the avant-garde ''
Ambit'' magazine,
which was more in keeping with his aesthetic ideals.
Full-time writing career
In 1960 Ballard moved with his family to the middle-class
Shepperton
Shepperton is an urban village in the Borough of Spelthorne, Surrey, approximately south west of central London. Shepperton is equidistant between the towns of Chertsey and Sunbury-on-Thames. The village is mentioned in a document of 959 AD ...
in Surrey, where he lived for the rest of his life and which would later give rise to his moniker as the "Seer of Shepperton". Finding that commuting to work did not leave him time to write, Ballard decided he had to make a break and become a full-time writer. He wrote his first novel, ''
The Wind from Nowhere
''The Wind from Nowhere'' is a science fiction novel by English author J. G. Ballard. Published in 1961, it was his debut novel. He had previously published only short stories.
The novel was the first of a series of Ballard novels dealing with ...
'', over a two-week holiday to gain a foothold as a professional writer, not intending it as a "serious novel"; in books published later, it is omitted from the list of his works.
When it was published in January 1962, he resigned from his job at ''Chemistry and Industry'', and from then on supported himself and his family as a writer.
Later that year his second novel, ''
The Drowned World
''The Drowned World'' is a 1962 science fiction novel by British writer J. G. Ballard. The novel depicts a post-apocalyptic future in which global warming caused by heightened solar radiation has rendered much of the Earth's surface uninhabit ...
'', was published, establishing Ballard as a notable figure in the fledgling
New Wave movement of science fiction. Collections of his stories started getting published, and he began a period of great literary productivity, while pushing to expand the scope of acceptable material for science fiction with such stories as "
The Terminal Beach
''The Terminal Beach'' is a collection of science fiction short stories by British author J. G. Ballard, published in 1964.
Contents
British edition
* "The Terminal Beach": A man who does not come to terms with the premature death of his wife ...
".
In 1964 Ballard's wife Mary died suddenly of pneumonia, leaving him to raise their three children—James, Fay and
Bea Ballard—by himself. Ballard never remarried, but a few years later his friend and fellow author
Michael Moorcock
Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939) is an English writer, best-known for science fiction and fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has worke ...
introduced him to Claire Walsh, who became his partner for the rest of his life (he died at her London residence), and is often referred to in his writings as "Claire Churchill". Walsh, who worked in publishing during the 1960s and 1970s, was a sounding board for many of his story ideas, and introduced him to the expatriate community in
the south of France which formed the basis of several novels.
After the shock of his wife's death, Ballard began in 1965 to write the stories that became ''
The Atrocity Exhibition
''The Atrocity Exhibition'' is an experimental novel of linked stories or "condensed novels" by British writer J. G. Ballard.
The book was originally published in the UK in 1970 by Jonathan Cape. After a 1970 edition by Doubleday & Company ...
'', while continuing to produce stories within the science fiction genre. In 1967
Algis Budrys
Algirdas Jonas "Algis" Budrys (January 9, 1931 – June 9, 2008) was a Lithuanian-American science fiction author, editor, and critic. He was also known under the pen names Frank Mason, Alger Rome (in collaboration with Jerome Bixby), Jo ...
listed Ballard,
Brian W. Aldiss
Brian Wilson Aldiss (; 18 August 1925 – 19 August 2017) was an English writer, artist, and anthology editor, best known for science fiction novels and short stories. His byline reads either Brian W. Aldiss or simply Brian Aldiss, except for ...
,
Roger Zelazny
Roger Joseph Zelazny (May 13, 1937 – June 14, 1995) was an American poet and writer of fantasy and science fiction short stories and novels, best known for ''The Chronicles of Amber''. He won the Nebula Award three times (out of 14 nomin ...
, and
Samuel R. Delany
Samuel R. "Chip" Delany (, ) (born April 1, 1942), is an American author and literary critic. His work includes fiction (especially science fiction), memoir, criticism, and essays (on science fiction, literature, sexuality, and society). His ...
as "an earthshaking new kind of" writer, and leaders of the New Wave.
''The Atrocity Exhibition'' (1969) proved controversial—it was the subject of an obscenity trial, and in the United States, publisher
Doubleday destroyed almost the entire print run before it was distributed—but it gained Ballard recognition as a literary writer. It remains one of his iconic works, and was filmed in 2001.
A chapter of ''The Atrocity Exhibition'' is titled "Crash!", and in 1970 Ballard organised an exhibition of crashed cars at the
New Arts Laboratory
The Institute for Research in Art and Technology (IRAT, also known as New Arts Lab; Robert Street Arts Lab) was founded in London in 1969 by a group of artists and activists including painter/author Pamela Zoline, video Pioneer John Hopkins, pain ...
, simply called "Crashed Cars". The crashed vehicles were displayed without commentary, inspiring vitriolic responses and vandalism.
[Ballard, J.G. (1993). ''The Atrocity Exhibition'' (expanded and annotated edition). .] In both the story and the art exhibition, Ballard dealt with the sexual potential of car crashes, a theme he also explored in a short film in which he appeared with
Gabrielle Drake
Gabrielle Drake (born 30 March 1944) is a British actress. She appeared in the 1970s in television series '' The Brothers'' and ''UFO''. In the early 1970s she appeared in several erotic roles on screen. She later took parts in soap operas ''Cr ...
in 1971. His interest in the topic culminated in the novel ''
Crash
Crash or CRASH may refer to:
Common meanings
* Collision, an impact between two or more objects
* Crash (computing), a condition where a program ceases to respond
* Cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating
* Couch su ...
'' in 1973. The main character of ''Crash'' is called James Ballard and lives in Shepperton, though other biographical details do not match the writer, and curiosity about the relationship between the character and his author increased when Ballard was in a serious car accident shortly after completing the novel.
''Crash'' was also controversial upon publication. In 1996, the
film adaptation by
David Cronenberg was met by a
tabloid uproar in the UK, with the ''
Daily Mail'' campaigning for it to be banned. In the years following the initial publication of ''Crash'', Ballard produced two further novels: 1974's ''
Concrete Island
''Concrete Island'' is a novel by British writer J. G. Ballard, first published in 1974.
Plot introduction
A car accident leaves Robert Maitland, a wealthy architect in the midst of concealing his affair with a colleague, stranded in a large a ...
'', about a man who becomes stranded in the waste area of a high-speed motorway,
and ''
High-Rise'', about a modern luxury high rise apartment building's descent into tribal warfare.
Ballard published several novels and short story collections throughout the 1970s and 1980s, but his breakthrough into the mainstream came with ''
Empire of the Sun
''Empire of the Sun'' is a 1984 novel by English writer J. G. Ballard; it was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Like Ballard's earlier short story "The Dead Time" (published in the anthology ...
'' in 1984, based on his years in Shanghai and the
Lunghua internment camp. It became a best-seller, was shortlisted for the
Booker Prize and awarded the
Guardian Fiction Prize
The Guardian Fiction Prize was a literary award sponsored by ''The Guardian'' newspaper. Founded in 1965, it recognized one fiction book per year written by a British or Commonwealth writer and published in the United Kingdom. The award ran for 33 ...
and
James Tait Black Memorial Prize
The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Uni ...
for fiction.
It made Ballard known to a wider audience, although the books that followed failed to achieve the same degree of success. ''
Empire of the Sun
''Empire of the Sun'' is a 1984 novel by English writer J. G. Ballard; it was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Like Ballard's earlier short story "The Dead Time" (published in the anthology ...
'' was filmed by
Steven Spielberg in 1987, starring a young
Christian Bale
Christian Charles Philip Bale (born 30 January 1974) is an English actor. Known for his versatility and physical transformations for his roles, he has been a leading man in films of several genres. He has received various accolades, including ...
as Jim (Ballard). Ballard himself appears briefly in the film, and he has described the experience of seeing his childhood memories reenacted and reinterpreted as bizarre.
![Grave of J](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/Grave_of_J._G._Ballard_in_Kensal_Green_Cemetery.jpg)
Ballard continued to write until the end of his life, and also contributed occasional journalism and criticism to the British press. Of his later novels, ''
Super-Cannes
''Super-Cannes'' is a novel by the British author J. G. Ballard, published in 2000. It picks up on the same themes as his earlier ''Cocaine Nights'', and has often been called a companion piece to that book.
Plot summary
In the hills above Cann ...
'' (2000) was well received, winning the regional
Commonwealth Writers' Prize
Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best ...
.
These later novels often marked a move away from science fiction, instead engaging with elements of a traditional
crime novel.
Ballard was offered a
CBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
in 2003, but refused, calling it "a
Ruritanian
Ruritania is a fictional country, originally located in central Europe as a setting for novels by Anthony Hope, such as ''The Prisoner of Zenda'' (1894). Nowadays the term connotes a quaint minor European country, or is used as a placeholder name f ...
charade that helps to prop up our top-heavy monarchy". In June 2006, he was diagnosed with terminal
prostate cancer, which
metastasis
Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spread from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, then ...
ed to his spine and ribs. The last of his books published in his lifetime was the autobiography ''
Miracles of Life'', written after his diagnosis. His final published short story, "The Dying Fall", appeared in the 1996 issue 106 of ''
Interzone'', a British sci-fi magazine. It was reproduced in ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' on 25 April 2009.
[Ballard, JG]
The Dying Fall
''The Guardian'', 25 April 2009. He was buried in
Kensal Green Cemetery
Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in the Kensal Green area of Queens Park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. Inspired by Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, it was founded by the barrister George Frederick ...
.
Posthumous publication
In October 2008, before his death, Ballard's literary agent, Margaret Hanbury, brought an outline for a book by Ballard with the working title ''Conversations with My Physician: The Meaning, if Any, of Life'' to the
Frankfurt Book Fair
The Frankfurt Book Fair (German: Frankfurter Buchmesse, FBM) is the world's largest trade fair for books, based on the number of publishing companies represented. It is considered to be the most important book fair in the world for internationa ...
. The physician in question is
oncologist
Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγκος (''ó ...
Professor
Jonathan Waxman
Jonathan Waxman is an American chef who was one of the pioneers of California cuisine and is credited with being the first to bring its style, fusing French cooking techniques with the freshest local ingredients, to New York.
Biography
Born in 19 ...
of
Imperial College, London, who was treating Ballard for prostate cancer. While it was to be in part a book about cancer, and Ballard's struggle with it, it reportedly was to move on to broader themes. In April 2009 ''The Guardian'' reported that
HarperCollins
HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News ...
announced that Ballard's ''Conversations with My Physician'' could not be finished and plans to publish it were abandoned.
In 2013, a 17-page untitled typescript listed as "Vermilion Sands short story in draft" in the
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
catalogue and edited into an 8,000-word text by Bernard Sigaud appeared in a short-lived French reissue of the collection () under the title "Le labyrinthe Hardoon" as the first story of the cycle, tentatively dated "late 1955/early 1956" by Sigaud and others.
Archive
In June 2010 the British Library acquired Ballard's personal archives under the British government's
acceptance in lieu scheme for
death duties
An inheritance tax is a tax paid by a person who inherits money or property of a person who has died, whereas an estate tax is a levy on the estate (money and property) of a person who has died.
International tax law distinguishes between an es ...
. The archive contains eighteen
holograph
An autograph or holograph is a manuscript or document written in its author's or composer's hand. The meaning of autograph as a document penned entirely by the author of its content, as opposed to a typeset document or one written by a copyist o ...
manuscripts for Ballard's novels, including the 840-page manuscript for ''Empire of the Sun'', plus correspondence, notebooks, and photographs from throughout his life. In addition, two typewritten manuscripts for ''The Unlimited Dream Company'' are held at the
Harry Ransom Center
The Harry Ransom Center (until 1983 the Humanities Research Center) is an archive, library and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe for the pur ...
at the
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...
.
Dystopian fiction
With the exception of his autobiographical novels, Ballard most commonly wrote in the post-apocalyptic
dystopia genre.
His most celebrated novel in this regard is ''Crash'', in which the characters (the protagonist, called Ballard, included) become increasingly obsessed with the violent psychosexuality of car crashes in general, and celebrity car crashes in particular. Ballard's novel was turned into a controversial film by David Cronenberg.
Particularly revered among Ballard's admirers is his short story collection ''
Vermilion Sands
''Vermilion Sands'' is a collection of science fiction short stories by British writer J. G. Ballard, first published in 1971. All the stories are set in an imaginary vacation resort called Vermilion Sands which suggests, among other places, Palm ...
'' (1971), set in an eponymous desert resort town inhabited by forgotten starlets, insane heirs, very eccentric artists, and the merchants and bizarre servants who provide for them. Each story features peculiarly exotic technology such as cloud-carving sculptors performing for a party of eccentric onlookers, poetry-composing computers, orchids with operatic voices and egos to match,
phototropic
Phototropism is the growth of an organism in response to a light stimulus. Phototropism is most often observed in plants, but can also occur in other organisms such as fungi. The cells on the plant that are farthest from the light contain a hor ...
self-painting canvases, etc. In keeping with Ballard's central themes, most notably technologically-mediated masochism, these tawdry and weird technologies service the dark and hidden desires and schemes of the human castaways who occupy Vermilion Sands, typically with psychologically grotesque and physically fatal results. In his introduction to ''Vermilion Sands'', Ballard cites this as his favourite collection.
In a similar vein, his collection ''
Memories of the Space Age'' explores many varieties of individual and collective psychological fallout from—and initial deep archetypal motivations for—the American space exploration boom of the 1960s and 1970s.
Will Self
William Woodard Self (born 26 September 1961) is an English author, journalist, political commentator and broadcaster. He has written 11 novels, five collections of shorter fiction, three novellas and nine collections of non-fiction writing. Sel ...
has described much of his fiction as being concerned with "idealised gated communities; the affluent, and the ennui of affluence
here
Here is an adverb that means "in, on, or at this place". It may also refer to:
Software
* Here Technologies, a mapping company
* Here WeGo (formerly Here Maps), a mobile app and map website by Here Technologies, Here
Television
* Here TV (form ...
the virtualised world is concretised in the shape of these gated developments." He added in these fictional settings "there is no real pleasure to be gained; sex is commodified and devoid of feeling and there is no relationship with the natural world. These communities then implode into some form of violence." Budrys, however, mocked his fiction as "call
ngfor people who don't think ... to be the protagonist of a J. G. Ballard novel, or anything more than a very minor character therein, you must have cut yourself off from the entire body of scientific education".
In addition to his novels, Ballard made extensive use of the short story form. Many of his earliest published works in the 1950s and 1960s were short stories, including influential works like ''
Chronopolis.'' In an essay on Ballard,
Will Wiles notes how his short stories "have a lingering fascination with the domestic interior, with furnishing and appliances", adding, "it's a landscape that he distorts until it shrieks with anxiety". He concludes that "what Ballard saw, and what he expressed in his novels, was nothing less than the effect that the technological world, including our built environment, was having upon our minds and bodies."
Ballard coined the term ''inverted Crusoeism''. Whereas the original
Robinson Crusoe
''Robinson Crusoe'' () is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. The first edition credited the work's protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading many readers to believe he was a real person and the book a tra ...
became a castaway against his own will, Ballard's protagonists often choose to maroon themselves; hence inverted Crusoeism (e.g., ''
Concrete Island
''Concrete Island'' is a novel by British writer J. G. Ballard, first published in 1974.
Plot introduction
A car accident leaves Robert Maitland, a wealthy architect in the midst of concealing his affair with a colleague, stranded in a large a ...
''). The concept provides a reason as to why people would deliberately maroon themselves on a remote island; in Ballard's work, becoming a castaway is as much a healing and empowering process as an entrapping one, enabling people to discover a more meaningful and vital existence.
Television
On 13 December 1965, BBC Two screened an adaptation of the short story "Thirteen to Centaurus" directed by Peter Potter. The one-hour drama formed part of the first season of ''
Out of the Unknown
''Out of the Unknown'' is a British television science fiction anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and broadcast on BBC2 in four series between 1965 and 1971. Most episodes of the first three series were a dramatisation of a science f ...
'' and starred
Donald Houston
Donald Daniel Houston (6 November 1923 – 13 October 1991) was a Welsh actor whose first two films—'' The Blue Lagoon'' (1949) with Jean Simmons, and '' A Run for Your Money'' (1949) with Alec Guinness—were highly successful. Later in ...
as Dr. Francis and James Hunter as Abel Granger. In 2003, Ballard's short story "The Enormous Space" (first published in the science fiction magazine ''
Interzone'' in 1989, subsequently printed in the collection of Ballard's short stories ''
War Fever'') was adapted into an hour-long television film for the BBC entitled ''
Home'' by
Richard Curson Smith
Richard Curson Smith is a British television director and producer. He has BAFTA, Emmy, RTS, Grierson, Real Screen, Broadcast, CSA and Prix Italia awards and nominations.
He heads his own production company, Absinthe Film Entertainment and is ...
, who also directed it. The plot follows a middle-class man who chooses to abandon the outside world and restrict himself to his house, becoming a hermit.
Influence
Ballard is cited as an important forebear of the
cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and c ...
movement by
Bruce Sterling in his introduction to the seminal ''
Mirrorshades
''Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology'' (1986) is a cyberpunk short story collection, edited by American writer Bruce Sterling.
Contents
* "The Gernsback Continuum" by William Gibson
* "Snake-Eyes" by Tom Maddox
* "Rock On" by Pat Cadigan
* "T ...
'' anthology, and by author
William Gibson
William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as ''cyberpunk''. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, hi ...
. Ballard's parody of American politics, the pamphlet "
Why I Want to Fuck Ronald Reagan
''Why I Want to Fuck Ronald Reagan'' is a short fictional work by English author J. G. Ballard, first published as a pamphlet by the Unicorn Bookshop, Brighton, in 1968. It was later collected in ''The Atrocity Exhibition''. It is written i ...
", which was subsequently included as a chapter in his experimental novel ''
The Atrocity Exhibition
''The Atrocity Exhibition'' is an experimental novel of linked stories or "condensed novels" by British writer J. G. Ballard.
The book was originally published in the UK in 1970 by Jonathan Cape. After a 1970 edition by Doubleday & Company ...
'', was photocopied and distributed by pranksters at the
1980 Republican National Convention. In the early 1970s, Bill Butler, a
bookseller
Bookselling is the commercial trading of books which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, bookpeople, bookmen, or bookwomen. The founding of libra ...
in
Brighton, was prosecuted under
UK obscenity laws
Since 1857, a series of obscenity laws known as the Obscene Publications Acts have governed what can be published in England and Wales. The classic definition of criminal obscenity is if it "tends to deprave and corrupt," stated in 1868 by Sir Al ...
for selling the pamphlet.
In his 2002 book
''Straw Dogs'', the philosopher
John Gray acknowledges Ballard as a major influence on his ideas. Ballard described the book as a "clear-eyed assessment of human nature and our almost unlimited gift for self-delusion".
According to literary theorist
Brian McHale
Brian G. McHale is a US academic and literary theorist who writes on a range of fiction and poetics, mainly relating to postmodernism and narrative theory. He is currently Distinguished Humanities Professor of English at Ohio State University. His ...
, ''
The Atrocity Exhibition
''The Atrocity Exhibition'' is an experimental novel of linked stories or "condensed novels" by British writer J. G. Ballard.
The book was originally published in the UK in 1970 by Jonathan Cape. After a 1970 edition by Doubleday & Company ...
'' is a "
postmodernist text based on science fiction
topoi
In mathematics, a topos (, ; plural topoi or , or toposes) is a category that behaves like the category of sheaves of sets on a topological space (or more generally: on a site). Topoi behave much like the category of sets and possess a noti ...
".
Lee Killough directly cites Ballard's seminal ''Vermilion Sands'' short stories as the inspiration for her collection ''Aventine'', also a backwater resort for celebrities and eccentrics where bizarre or frivolous novelty technology facilitates the expression of dark intents and drives.
Terry Dowling
Terence William (Terry) Dowling (born 21 March 1947), is an Australian writer and journalist. He writes primarily speculative fiction though he considers himself an "imagier" – one who imagines, a term which liberates his writing from the cons ...
's milieu of ''Twilight Beach'' is also influenced by the stories of ''Vermilion Sands'' and other Ballard works.
In ''
Simulacra and Simulation
''Simulacra and Simulation'' (french: Simulacres et Simulation) is a 1981 philosophical treatise by the philosopher and cultural theorist Jean Baudrillard, in which the author seeks to examine the relationships between reality, symbols, and so ...
'',
Jean Baudrillard
Jean Baudrillard ( , , ; 27 July 1929 – 6 March 2007) was a French sociologist, philosopher and poet with interest in cultural studies. He is best known for his analyses of media, contemporary culture, and technological communication, as ...
hailed ''
Crash
Crash or CRASH may refer to:
Common meanings
* Collision, an impact between two or more objects
* Crash (computing), a condition where a program ceases to respond
* Cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating
* Couch su ...
'' as the "first great novel of the universe of simulation".
Ballard also had an interest in the relationship between various media. In the early 1970s, he was one of the trustees of the
Institute for Research in Art and Technology
The Institute for Research in Art and Technology (IRAT, also known as New Arts Lab; Robert Street Arts Lab) was founded in London in 1969 by a group of artists and activists including painter/author Pamela Zoline, video Pioneer John Hopkins, pain ...
.
In popular music
Ballard has had a notable influence on popular music, where his work has been used as a basis for lyrical imagery, particularly amongst British
post-punk
Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad music genre, genre of Punk Music, punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde s ...
and
industrial
Industrial may refer to:
Industry
* Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry
* Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems
* Industrial city, a city dominate ...
groups. Examples include albums such as ''
Metamatic
''Metamatic'' is the debut solo album by John Foxx, released in 1980. It was his first solo project following his split with Ultravox the previous year. A departure from the mix of synthesizers and conventional rock instrumentation on that ban ...
'' by
John Foxx
John Foxx (born Dennis Leigh; 26 September 1948) is an English singer, musician, artist, photographer, graphic designer, writer, teacher and lecturer. He was the original lead singer of the new wave band Ultravox, before leaving to embark on a ...
, various songs by
Joy Division
Joy Division were an English rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist Ian Curtis, guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris.
Sumner and Hook formed the band after atte ...
(most famously "Atrocity Exhibition" from ''
Closer'' and "Disorder" from ''
Unknown Pleasures
''Unknown Pleasures'' is the debut studio album by English rock band Joy Division, released on 15 June 1979 by Factory Records. The album was recorded and mixed over three successive weekends at Stockport's Strawberry Studios in April 1979, wi ...
''),
"PXR5, High Rise" by Hawkwind,
"Miss the Girl" by The Creatures (based on ''Crash''), "Down in the Park" by Gary Numan, "Chrome Injury" by The Church (band), The Church, "Drowned World" by Madonna (entertainer), Madonna, "Warm Leatherette" by The Normal and ''Atrocity Exhibition (album), Atrocity Exhibition'' by Danny Brown.
Songwriters Trevor Horn and Bruce Woolley credit Ballard's story "The Sound-Sweep" with inspiring The Buggles' hit "Video Killed the Radio Star", and the Adventures in Modern Recording, Buggles' second album included a song entitled "Vermillion Sands".
The 1978 post-punk band Comsat Angels took their name from one of Ballard's short stories. An early instrumental track by British electronic music group The Human League "4JG" bears Ballard's initials as a homage to the author (intended as a response to "2HB" by Roxy Music).
Manic Street Preachers include a sample from an interview with Ballard in their song "The Holy Bible (album), Mausoleum".
Additionally, the Manic Street Preachers song, "A Billion Balconies Facing the Sun", is taken from a line in the JG Ballard novel, Cocaine Nights.
Klaxons (English band), Klaxons named their debut album ''Myths of the Near Future'' after one of Ballard's short story collections.
The band Empire of the Sun took their name from Ballard's novel.
The Sound of Animals Fighting took the name of the song The Ocean and the Sun, "The Heraldic Beak of the Manufacturer's Medallion" from ''Crash''. UK based Drum and Bass producer Fortitude released an EP in 2016 called "Kline Coma Xero" named after characters in The Atrocity Exhibition. The song "Terminal Beach" by the American band Yacht (band), Yacht is a tribute to his short story collection that goes by the same name.. US indie musician and comic book artist Jeffrey Lewis mentions Ballard by name in his song "Cult Boyfriend", on the record "A Turn in The Dream-Songs" (2011), in reference to Ballard's Cult following as an author.
Awards and honours
* 1984
Guardian Fiction Prize
The Guardian Fiction Prize was a literary award sponsored by ''The Guardian'' newspaper. Founded in 1965, it recognized one fiction book per year written by a British or Commonwealth writer and published in the United Kingdom. The award ran for 33 ...
for ''Empire of the Sun''
* 1984
James Tait Black Memorial Prize
The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Uni ...
for fiction for ''Empire of the Sun''
* 1984 ''Empire of the Sun'' shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction
* 1997 De Montfort University Honorary doctorate.
* 2001 List of Commonwealth Writers prizes, Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Europe & South Asia region) for ''Super-Cannes''
* 2008 Golden PEN Award
* 2009 Royal Holloway University of London Posthumous honorary doctorate.
Works
Novels
Short story collections
Non-fiction
* ''A User's Guide to the Millennium: Essays and Reviews'' (1996)
* ''
Miracles of Life'' (autobiography; 2008)
Interviews
* ''Paris Review – J.G. Ballard '' (1984)
* ''Re/Search No. 8/9: J.G. Ballard'' (1985)
* ''J.G. Ballard: Quotes'' (2004)
* ''J.G. Ballard: Conversations'' (2005)
* ''Extreme Metaphors'' (interviews; 2012)
Adaptations
Films
* ''When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth'' (1970 Val Guest)
* ''
Empire of the Sun
''Empire of the Sun'' is a 1984 novel by English writer J. G. Ballard; it was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Like Ballard's earlier short story "The Dead Time" (published in the anthology ...
'' (1987
Steven Spielberg)
* ''
Crash
Crash or CRASH may refer to:
Common meanings
* Collision, an impact between two or more objects
* Crash (computing), a condition where a program ceases to respond
* Cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating
* Couch su ...
'' (1996
David Cronenberg)
* ''The Atrocity Exhibition'' (2000 Jonathan Weiss)
* ''Low-Flying Aircraft (film), Low-Flying Aircraft'' (2002 Solveig Nordlund)
* ''High-Rise (film), High-Rise'' (2015
Ben Wheatley
Benjamin Wheatley (born 7 May 1972) is an English filmmaker and screenwriter. Beginning his career in advertising, Wheatley first gained recognition and acclaim for his commercials and short films, before transitioning into feature films and tel ...
)
Television
* "Thirteen to Centaurus" (1965) from the short story of the same name – dir. Peter Potter (BBC Two)
* ''Crash!'' (1971) dir. Harley Cokliss
[Sellars, S. (10 August 2007).]
Crash! Full-Tilt Autogeddon
". Ballardian.com. Retrieved 25 April 2009.
* "Minus One" (1991) from the Minus One, story of the same name – short film dir. by Simon Brooks.
* "Home" (2003) primarily based on "The Enormous Space" – dir. Richard Curson Smith (BBC Four)
* "The Drowned Giant" (2021) from the short story of the same name, is the 8th episode of the second season of the Netflix Anthology series Love, Death & Robots
Radio
* In Nov/Dec 1988, CBC Radio's sci-fi series Vanishing Point (CBC), ''Vanishing Point'' ran a seven-episode miniseries of ''The Stories of J. G. Ballard'', which included audio adaptations of "Escapement," "Dead Astronaut," "The Cloud Sculptors of Coral D," "Low Flying Aircraft," "A Question of Re-entry," "News from the Sun" and "Having a Wonderful Time".
* In June 2013, BBC Radio 4 broadcast adaptions of ''The Drowned World'' and ''Concrete Island'' as part of a season of dystopian fiction entitled ''Dangerous Visions''.
References
Notes
Bibliography
* Ballard, J.G. (1984). ''Empire of the Sun''. .
* Ballard, J.G. (1991). ''The Kindness of Women''. .
*
Ballard, J.G. (1993). ''The Atrocity Exhibition'' (expanded and annotated edition). .
* Ballard, J.G. (2006).
Look back at Empire. ''The Guardian'', 4 March 2006.
* Baxter, J. (2001).
J.G. Ballard. ''The Literary Encyclopedia''. Retrieved 11 March 2006.
* Baxter, J. (ed.) (2008). ''J.G. Ballard'', London: Continuum.
* Baxter, John (2011). ''The Inner Man: The Life of J. G. Ballard.'' London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
* Brigg, Peter (1985). ''J.G. Ballard''. Rpt. Borgo Press/Wildside Press.
Collins English Dictionary . Quoted i
Ballardian: The World of JG Ballard Retrieved 11 March 2006.
* Cowley, J. (2001).
. Review of ''The Complete Stories'' by J.G. Ballard. ''The Observer'', 4 November 2001. Retrieved 11 March 2006.
* Delville, Michel. ''J.G. Ballard''. Plymouth: Northcote House, 1998.
* Gasiorek, A. (2005). ''J. G. Ballard''. Manchester University Press.
* Hall, C.
Extreme Metaphor: A Crash Course in the Fiction of JG Ballard. Retrieved 11 March 2006.
*
Livingstone, D.B. (1996?).
Prophet with Honour
. Retrieved 12 March 2006.
* Luckhurst, R. (1998). ''The Angle Between Two Walls: The Fiction of J. G. Ballard''. Liverpool University Press.
* McGrath, R
JG Ballard Book Collection Retrieved 11 March 2006.
* McGrath, Rick (ed.). ''The JG Ballard Book''. The Terminal Press. 2013.
*
* Oramus, Dominika. ''Grave New World''. Warsaw: University of Warsaw, 2007.
* Pringle, David, ''Earth is the Alien Planet: J.G. Ballard's Four-Dimensional Nightmare'', San Bernardino, CA: The Borgo Press, 1979.
*
Pringle, David (ed.) and Ballard, J.G. (1982). "From Shanghai to Shepperton". ''Re/Search'' 8/9: J.G. Ballard: 112–124. .
* Rossi, Umberto (2009).
, ''Science-Fiction Studies'', No. 107, 36:1 (March), 101–120.
* Stephenson, Gregory, ''Out of the Night and into the Dream: A Thematic Study of the Fiction of J.G. Ballard'', New York: Greenwood Press, 1991.
* McGrath, Rick (ed.). ''Deep Ends: The JG Ballard Anthology 2014''. The Terminal Press. 2014.
* V. Vale (ed.) (2005). "J.G. Ballard: Conversations"
excerpts. RE/Search Publications.
* V. Vale (ed.) and Ryan, Mike (ed). (2005). "J.G. Ballard: Quotes"
excerpts. RE/Search Publications.
* McGrath, Rick (ed.). ''Deep Ends: The JG Ballard Anthology 2015''. The Terminal Press. 2015.
* McGrath, Rick (ed.). ''Deep Ends: The JG Ballard Anthology 2016''. The Terminal Press. 2016.
* McGrath, Rick (ed.). ''Deep Ends: A Ballardian Anthology 2018''. The Terminal Press. 2018.
* McGrath, Rick (ed.). ''Deep Ends: A Ballardian Anthology 2019''. The Terminal Press. 2019.
* McGrath, Rick (ed.). ''Deep Ends: A Ballardian Anthology 2020''. The Terminal Press. 2020.
External links
*
*
*
*
*
J. G. Ballard's online fictionat Free Speculative Fiction Online
Ballardian(Simon Sellars)
J.G. Ballard Literary Archive & Bibliographies(Rick McGrath)
by Theodore Dalrymple in ''City Journal (New York), City Journal'' magazine
J. G. Ballard Literary Estate''J G Ballard''at the British Library
J G Ballard archives and manuscripts catalogue at the British Library
articles, reviews and essays
*
''Landscapes From a Dream'' J G Ballard and modern art
* [http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article3537987.ece ''Miracles of Life'' reviewed by Karl Miller] in the Times Literary Supplement, 12 March 2008
J.G. Ballard: The Glow of the ProphetDiane Johnson article on Ballard from ''The New York Review of Books''
* Reviews of Ballard's work and John Foyster's criticism of Ballard's work featured i
Edition 46 of Science Fiction magazineedited by Van Ikin.
* A review of Ballard's ''Running Wild'
J. G. Ballard's Running Wild – The Literary Life
source material
J. G. Ballard and his family on the list of the internment campa
J.G. Ballard and Scottish artist Sir Eduardo Paolozzi
obituaries and remembrances
Obituaryin the ''Times'' Online
by John Clute in ''The Independent''
Obituaryin the ''Los Angeles Times''
Quotes from other writerson BBC News
More writers' reactionsin ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''
* A shor
appreciationin ''The New Yorker''
Tributeby V. Vale from RE/Search
Letter From London: The J.G. Ballard Memorial* ''Self on Ballard'' by
Will Self
William Woodard Self (born 26 September 1961) is an English author, journalist, political commentator and broadcaster. He has written 11 novels, five collections of shorter fiction, three novellas and nine collections of non-fiction writing. Sel ...
on BBC Radio 4, 26 September 2009
Transcript and Postscript a
by Rick McGrath
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ballard, J G
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