Talk:J. G. Ballard
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[edit] Life
I wrote a new biography of JGB, basing it mostly on the biographical interview in Re/Search: JGB and J. Baxter's bio in The Literary Encyclopedia. (Though Baxter appears to have based most of her article on the Re/Search interview also.) Because I think one of the most interesting and relevant questions about his life is the extent to which the Jamie/Jim/James Ballard characters in his stories correspond to JG Ballard the author, I added some brief discussion about autobiographical elements in Empire, Kindness and Crash. Any more on this topic (and there's plenty of source material to draw on) should probably go either in a section about his writing or in the articles for the individual books.
A few points I would like to see cleared up:
- My sources appear to indicate that Ballard was rejected ("cashiered") by the RAF, but I couldn't find a definite statement of why he left (after serving two years). I don't have Kindness at hand; does it offer an explanation?
- What happened at the 1957 London Science Fiction Convention? Was Ballard disgusted by the fans, by the other authors, or what? Apparently it had some kind of aftermath, with JGB speaking out and (possibly?) alienating the sci-fi community.
- In numerous interviews and letters (over many years), Ballard refers to his girlfriend. If he's been seeing (or living with) the same woman for a considerable amount of time, that might be worth mentioning.
I might tackle the sections about his writing next. I think they need some work.
Snarkibartfast 20:43, 12 March 2006 (UTC)
I think that the first paragraph that mentions that Empire of the Sun is autobiographical should be changed to say that it is fiction based on his experiences. Indeed, in the front of the book Ballard says:
Empire of the Sun draws on my experiences in Shanghai, China during the Second World War, and in Lunghua C.A.C where I was interned from 1942-45. For the most part this novel is based on events I observed during the Japanese occupation of Shanghai and within the camp at Lunghua.
He does not say that the book is his biography.
Some of the events in Empire of the Sun did not happen and in an article Ballard wrote for the Sunday Times Review (20 August 1995) he gives a more accurate chronology. (This is confirmed by the archives of my father who was also interned in Lunghua). Empire of the Sun indicates that the Japanese interned Europeans and Americans after the attack on Pearl Harbor (which was on 8 December 1941 in Shanghai). In fact Ballard's Sunday Times Review article states that it was only those in senior administrative positions that were arrested, for everyone else life went on as before (albeit, restricted by the Japanese occupation). The internment actually started on the 17 March 1943, fifteen months later. All of the internees had been given a letter indicating that they would be interned, giving a detailed list of the items that they should take with them. The order also gave each person a number and stated the place where they would be picked up and transported to the camp. It was very organised. My father's archives confirm this: my grandfather had time to create a list of everything in his house, and he was able to pack the most valuable items in packing cases and have these stored.
The forced march at the end of the book did not happen. Again, Ballard states this in his Sunday Times Review article. On 8 August 1945 they woke up to discover that there were no guards in the camp. That was it. No march. Most of the internees remained in the camp for many weeks. For example, my father and grandmother left on the 31 August (and returned on a Red Cross ship to England), but my grandfather remained in the camp until 20 October, and did not return to England until six months later.
As you can see there are many historical inaccuracies in the book. This does not diminish the value of the book as fiction, but it does show that the book is not biographical.
User:RichardGrimes 17 August 2006
- The introduction describes Empire of the Sun as an autobiographical novel. From the article:
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An autobiographical novel is a novel based on the life of the author. The literary technique is distinguished from an autobiography or memoir by the stipulation of being fiction. Names and locations are often changed and events are recreated to make them more dramatic but the story still bears a close resemblance to that of the author.
While the events of the author's life are recounted, there is no pretense of neutrality or even exact truth.
- This seems to fit the description of "fiction based on his experiences". Snarkibartfast 08:38, 27 August 2006 (UTC)
- PS: Thanks for the corrections regarding dates. I will fix the other statements to retain consistency with the corrected dates. I just came across this quote by Ballard, which seemed appropriate: "It's curious to realize that a lot of the basic facts one has about oneself are wrong."
I have made the change accordingly. John Lunney 15:20, 9 October 2006 (UTC)
I changed it back, since Empire is clearly an autobiographical novel by the definition used (it's a novel in which the main character, Jim, is based on JGB, and the main story, Jim's internment in a Japanese prison camp, is based on his experiences). The fact that it's a novel implies that it is fiction. The term "semi-autobiographical novel" does not seem to apply, given how that term is defined in the article. Also, Empire is listed as an example of an autobiographical novel in the article, and—most importantly—JGB has (implicitly) referred to it as such. ("I think Crash is, in a way, my most autobiographical novel, notwithstanding Empire of the Sun which was actually about my childhood in Shanghai. Crash is an autobiographical novel in the sense that it is about my inner life, my imaginative life. It is true to that interior life, not the life I have actually led.") Though this is a silly thing to start a revert war over. --Snarkibartfast 05:15, 13 October 2006 (UTC)
Okay. --John Lunney 13:27, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Shanghai: American or British?
Users Scope creep and Bickers have been changing the statement that the Shanghai International Settlement was dominated by American influences to say "British interests". The original phrasing was based on JGB's interview in Re/Search:JGB, quoted as follows:
Shanghai was an American zone of influence. All the foreign nationals there lived an American style of life. They had American-style houses, air-conditioning and refrigerators, and American cars. I never saw an English car until I came to Britain in 1946. We had Coca-Cola—and American-style commercial radio stations [...] and they were blaring out American programs and radio serials. [...] And of course there were American films on show in the cinemas which I went to from an early age. [...] [A]s well as American comics and the American mass magazines of the day, Collier's, Life and so on.
Since the purpose of the biography is to explain the milieu in which JGB grew up, not to debate the political situation in 1930's China, I will restore the original wording. - Snarkibartfast 17:01, 5 September 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Wind title
The article and at least one other (Dystopia) refer to The Wind That Came From Nowhere. I know this book as The Wind From Nowhere. I can't find official references to the former title; internet searches reveal many hits but all seem to be encyclopedia articles, perhaps all from the same tainted source. I will alter this. Also other details from Nicholls Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1979). Notinasnaid 12:20, 31 Aug 2004 (UTC)
[edit] Categories
I removed one redundant cat, but the remaining ones could still use a little squeezing. I also question Ballard's identification as a novelist, since he's probably primarily a writer of short fiction rather than novels, and it would be insane to specify for every writer whether they are writers of novels, short fiction, or both. But maybe that's an objection to the whole category of novelists. -- कुक्कुरोवाच|Talk‽ 23:04, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)
[edit] Bibliography
The Burning World is indeed more commonly know as The Drought but tBW was the original title and the bibliography should reflect this. (Ninebelow 16:16, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC))
[edit] Dystopia?
The article reads "his most common genre is dystopia". I don't think this is correct. I haven't read all of his works, but what I have read wasn't a dystopia. Can anyone correct me, before I remove this statement? Notinasnaid 09:25, 9 January 2006 (UTC)
- I haven't read his works after "Empire of the Sun", but those before appear to centre upon characters who embrace and are embraced by what to others is seen as a dystopia. So although the statement is correct so far as the setting is concerned, it is incorrect so far as the central characters are concerned. The disturbance felt by some (most? all?) readers may be driven by the unwelcome recognition that they themselves can identify with these characters, while knowing at the same time that their response should be repugnance. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 81.86.72.52 (talk • contribs).
- Yeah, I would say that "dystopia" is too vague and imprecise a term to describe the bulk of Ballard's work. "Hello America" is post-apocalyptic but not especially dystopian. One could argue that one of his most recent novels, "Super Cannes," is dystopian, but not in the traditional sense that one thinks of with novels such as "1984," the classic example. I think we need further discussion before you remove it, but I agree that it is not accurate. ---Charles 21:47, 3 July 2006 (UTC)
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- Well, Ballard is a pretty strikingly individual writer - don't be too surprised that he bends the boundaries of genre! I must've read about 75% or more of his work, and I would say "dystopia" is a not inappropriate word to use for some of his key writings. Certainly I think it's fair enough to have in the article as orientation for the casual wiki reader who's never heard of JG Ballard before.--feline1 22:13, 3 July 2006 (UTC)
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- I disagree that "dystopia" is an good overall description of Ballard's work, although it comes a little closer to being appropriate for the more recent works then it does for his earlier ones. A "dystopia" is the inverse of a utopia, i.e. a society in which values are inverted, nothing works, the human spirit is repressed, etc. -- "1984" is the classic example. Ballard's stuff is really not much like that. Things in early Ballard novels have gone horribly wrong, but not from the malfunctioning of society: the cause is mysterious and seems at times to be the revenge of nature against humanity. His early stuff is in fact more closely related to the disaster novel than it is to dystopian literature.
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- I suppose that "dystopian" might be marginally true as a description of the later novels, but he seems much more concerned with aberrant psychology than with aberrant society (although it too plays a part). I just I think that saying "dystopian" is more likely to mislead a new reader than to provide an accurate thumbnail. unfutz 07:26, 6 July 2006 (UTC)
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[edit] Links
I attempted a clean up of links. I removed some that would be superceeded if the article became a featured one and some non-authorative info. i puzzled about the rickmcgrath.com lnks. They are not officially sourced but provide a lot of valuable info, poss infringement of copyright also. I tried to find a way of linking to one page on spikemagazine.com that would list all JG Ballard info but was unsuccessful Fordescort79 23:54, 23 March 2007 (UTC)
