J G Ballard
An Ode to a Ballard:
Today I was shocked to discover that a writer I have grown up on, J G Ballard died yesterday at the age of 78 of prostrate cancer.
He wrote for a great portion of his life and after his wife died of pneumonia he raised their 3 children. He was born in Shanghai in 1930 his Father was a chemist in a textiles firm. Following the attack on Perl Harbour he and his parents were incarcerated in Lunghua internment camp.
He was known as a Sci-Fi writer but I will always remember him for 'the Empire of the Sun' and 'the Kindness of Women' which was a series based on his experiences whilst being interned in Lunghua camp and his life afterwards. His Sci-Fi books included, 'Crash,' 'Kingdom Come,' 'Running Wild,' 'the Unlimited Dreams Company,' 'Love and Napalm: Export USA,' 'the Crystal World,' 'Concrete Island,' 'Millennium People' and many other wondrous tales.
I implore you to read some of his novels if you have not already one. Might I suggest that you start by reading the series mentioned at the top of the latter paragraph as this will make you understand the other things that he wrote: his psychological profile to his writing!
'The Empire of the Sun' was made into a movie 1987, it was directed by Stephen Spielberg had John Malkovich and Nigel Havers in it. If you have not seen it, then go ahead and watch it. I like to think of it as the first of Spielberg's war Trilogy; the others being 'Schindler's List' and 'Saving Private Ryan.'
Ballard also wrote novels, short stories, books about himself, collections, non fiction and other works. He was awarded the Booker and Whitbread prize, et. al.
Even though I did not know him personally I know that I will always miss him he is one of the reasons why I became a writer and studied journalism. The world is now a quieter place without him: not to mention a far less adventurous one.
‘The bright light that I saw spreading across the sky this morning was your soul going up to heaven’!
15.11.1930.
19.4.2009.