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J G Ballard has died aged 78.
If there is one book you should read before you die, it is his autobiographical novel 'Empire of the Sun'.
It is a fictionalized account of his internment, at the age of 12, inside a Japanese prison camp in China during WWII. Surrounded by violence, starvation and death, Jim's spirits never fall and neither does his iron determination to cling onto life.
Self-pity is not in Jim's repertoire. Flies clog his sick gums and pus oozes from the sores that cover his body, but his black humour and ability to barter favours sees him live off a single mouldy sweet potato a day.
The Collins English dicitionary may define 'Ballardian' as 'dystopian modernity', but Ballard's writing in 'Empire' thrives on the man-made catastrophe of war.
Prostate cancer may have taken him, but I look foward to exploring his 15 novels and many short stories further.
If there is one book you should read before you die, it is his autobiographical novel 'Empire of the Sun'.
It is a fictionalized account of his internment, at the age of 12, inside a Japanese prison camp in China during WWII. Surrounded by violence, starvation and death, Jim's spirits never fall and neither does his iron determination to cling onto life.
Self-pity is not in Jim's repertoire. Flies clog his sick gums and pus oozes from the sores that cover his body, but his black humour and ability to barter favours sees him live off a single mouldy sweet potato a day.
The Collins English dicitionary may define 'Ballardian' as 'dystopian modernity', but Ballard's writing in 'Empire' thrives on the man-made catastrophe of war.
Prostate cancer may have taken him, but I look foward to exploring his 15 novels and many short stories further.
- 'Empire of the Sun' was made into a film by Steven Spielberg in 1987
- 'Crash' was made into a film by David Cronenberg in 1996 and tells of a group of people who take sexual pleasure from car accidents
I agree with your post. I loved that movie dearly. He will be missed.
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