"Everything is becoming Science Fiction"
Apr. 19th, 2009 07:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jack_babalonOne of my favorite writers passed away earlier today.
LONDON (Reuters) – British author J.G. Ballard, whose vivid portrayal of his childhood imprisonment in wartime Shanghai was adapted into a hit Hollywood film, died on Sunday, his agent said. He was 78.
Ballard, who had been suffering from prostate cancer, died at his home in Shepperton by the River Thames in west London, his agent Margaret Hanbury said in a statement.
"J.G. Ballard has been a giant on the world literary scene for more than 50 years," she said. "His acute and visionary observation of contemporary life was distilled into a number of brilliant, powerful novels which have been published all over the world."
Using a visceral surrealism reminiscent of William Burroughs combined with an intoxicating narrative style that distinctly was all his own, J G Ballard created an unflinching autopsy report of the human psyche against some of the most spectacular pre and post apocalyptic landscapes I have ever had the good fortune to read.
I remember the first time I read High Rise back on the ship in the early 90's and finding myself compelled to sneak in pages while on Watch down in the Bilges. It took me a little over a week to finish and by the time I was done, I found myself not only deeply disturbed by the experience but genuinely scared of what horrors lurked behind the facade of 'civilized man'. Most of all though, I was anxious to read more works by the man. Some writers inspire you to write yourself so swept up in the flow of prose they command. Some writers make you scared to write in fear that you won't be anywhere near as good as they are. For me J G Ballard did both.
I'll end this with a quote of his I stumbled upon last Tuesday, when I was deep in the grip of depression at the barrage of rejection letters that were flooding my apartment.
"Any fool can write a novel but it takes real genius to sell it."
British author J.G. Ballard dies at 78
LONDON (Reuters) – British author J.G. Ballard, whose vivid portrayal of his childhood imprisonment in wartime Shanghai was adapted into a hit Hollywood film, died on Sunday, his agent said. He was 78.
Ballard, who had been suffering from prostate cancer, died at his home in Shepperton by the River Thames in west London, his agent Margaret Hanbury said in a statement.
"J.G. Ballard has been a giant on the world literary scene for more than 50 years," she said. "His acute and visionary observation of contemporary life was distilled into a number of brilliant, powerful novels which have been published all over the world."
Using a visceral surrealism reminiscent of William Burroughs combined with an intoxicating narrative style that distinctly was all his own, J G Ballard created an unflinching autopsy report of the human psyche against some of the most spectacular pre and post apocalyptic landscapes I have ever had the good fortune to read.
I remember the first time I read High Rise back on the ship in the early 90's and finding myself compelled to sneak in pages while on Watch down in the Bilges. It took me a little over a week to finish and by the time I was done, I found myself not only deeply disturbed by the experience but genuinely scared of what horrors lurked behind the facade of 'civilized man'. Most of all though, I was anxious to read more works by the man. Some writers inspire you to write yourself so swept up in the flow of prose they command. Some writers make you scared to write in fear that you won't be anywhere near as good as they are. For me J G Ballard did both.
I'll end this with a quote of his I stumbled upon last Tuesday, when I was deep in the grip of depression at the barrage of rejection letters that were flooding my apartment.
"Any fool can write a novel but it takes real genius to sell it."