RIP J G Ballard, author of “The Atrocity Exhibition”
Sunday, April 19th, 2009J G Ballard was 78 and had apparently been in poor health for some time. He died today.
I’ve never read “Empire of The Sun” nor ever been particularly attracted to it. But his early writing is outstanding. I’m particularly fond of “The Atrocity Exhibition” (a book I discovered by being a fan of Joy Division and wondering where they got that title from), “Crash
” (which is far far more interesting and stimulating than the dreadful film which totally missed the point!), “Myths of the Near Future
“, “Concrete Island”…
I liked his experimental styles, his brashness, his willingness to mix current affairs topics with speculative futures, the psychological themes and pushing the forms of fiction. A big influence on Jeff Noon and Will Self, I’d suggest.
So I’m off to reread some favourite stories from “Myths of the Near Future“.
Buy them from amazon: The Atrocity Exhibition: Annotated (Flamingo Modern Classics), Myths of the Near Future
, Crash