The Illuminated Man: an unconventional portrait of JG Ballard

(theguardian.com)

36 points | by agronaut 2 hours ago

8 comments

  • ecliptik 1 hour ago
    One of my favorite authors and highly recommend his short stories [1] and the "ambiguous apocalypse" trilogy - The Drowned World, The Burning World, and The Crystal World.

    As one of collections intros said, Ballard is science fiction, but Inner Space, not Outer Space.

    1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Complete_Short_Stories_of_...

    • atombender 18 minutes ago
      I absolutely loved The Crystal World. It's a unique, weird fever dream of a novel. I still find myself thinking about it at random times, even while being unsure if the book really makes sense.

      The Burning World is rarely talked about. How is it?

  • pnw 26 minutes ago
    It seems like the best authors - JG Ballard in this instance - are somehow resistant to modern biographers. Even the least worst Phillip K Dick biography (Divine Invasions) is over 30 years old!
  • antirez 1 hour ago
    Loved High rise, Concrete island, Empire of the sun. Also make sure to read this: https://www.jgballard.ca/uncollected_work/what_i_believe.htm...
    • Lio 28 minutes ago
      I really enjoyed some of his later books too. Cocaine Nights and Super Cannes are great.

      Like a lot of his books they seem simple until you dig into them. They fry my brain a bit but that’s surrealism for you.

      Will Self has some good writing about Ballard.

  • nickdothutton 50 minutes ago
    A favourite of mine. Do please check the interviews with him on youtube. Some authors try to show you the far future, he tried to show us the next 15 minutes.
  • dbcooper 58 minutes ago
    "The 60 Minute Zoom" is a good short story to start with.
  • languagehacker 1 hour ago
    I absolutely love JG Ballard. Crash is a classic, and High Rise is a fun one.
  • fallinditch 1 hour ago
    I thought I was broad-minded enough to read Crash - I wasn't. I did enjoy other Ballard books.
    • hermitcrab 1 hour ago
      'The Atrocity Exhibition' is even weirder. I didn't get it at all. Enjoyed most of his other work though.
  • andrehacker 23 minutes ago
    Am I the only one that misread the title and expected to see something about the reclusive Bellard ?