Complete Short Stories
by J G Ballard
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Book Summary Information
Author: J G BallardEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2002-11-04
ISBN: 0007138121
Number of pages: 1200
Publisher: Flamingo
Book Reviews of Complete Short Stories
Book Review: R.I.P. J. G. Ballard: Understand His Development as a Writer Through His Lesser Known Works
Summary: 5 Stars
J.G. Ballard's death was a concluding chapter in a life that in some ways had been stripped of humanity. Which is a not uncommon experience. After being stalked online, abandoned by half of the people I know after having acquired (and under official study for) tardive psychosis, tardive dysphrenia and tardive dysmentia and close to death each day one wonders if life gets worse. Or is that a bad thing in itself? I would say J.G. Ballard's passing would be one clear sign as being a living embodiment of "The Atrocity Exhibition" (his most surreal work) I could not ever communicate with him (in real world terms). But his life was certainly not just a fictional depiction of some sick and depraved imagination. If you read the book (far better than the movie) "Empire of the Sun" you can understand that his traumatic experiences shaped him to see the darker side of the human imagination. In "The Complete Short Stories" we see his evolution as a relatively conventional science fiction writer to outright warped dissertations on humanity ("Why I Want to F*** Ronald Reagan", written around the time of his true masterpiece "Crash") to more conventional stories along the lines of "Empire of the Sun". A typical story is "The Comsat Angels" (yes I did pick that one first being that it inspired one of my favorite post punk bands) where as it turns out "boy geniuses" are being cloned for quiz shows. But instead of a science fiction schema it instead depicts the true depersonalization and commifidication of the media (and this being in the 60's, update it now to the internet). So now in being trapped some world physically a step towards death but yet not entirely towards it (one we will all inhabit someday) its perhaps a bit depressing to have a fellow traveler depart. But in seeing how the world has totally lost its humanity perhaps it might make you pause for thought. Or at least keep reading. And please do so. Every page is worth it.
Summary of Complete Short Stories
For the first time in one volume, a complete collection of the acclaimed short stories by the author of Empire of the Sun, Crash, Cocaine Nights and Super-Cannes -- regarded by many as Britain's No 1 living fiction writer. With sixteen novels over four decades -- from The Drowned World in 1962 to his highly acclaimed Super-Cannes in 2000 -- J.G. Ballard is firmly established as one of Britain's most celebrated and original novelists. For all that time he has also written short stories; in fact, many people consider that he is at his best in the short-story format. These highly influential stories have appeared in magazines such as New Worlds, Amazing Stories and Interzone, and in several separate collections, including The Voices of Time, The Terminal Beach, The Day of Forever, The Venus Hunters, The Disaster Area, Vermilion Sands, Low-Flying Aircraft, Myths of the Near Future and War Fever. Now, for the first time, all of J.G. Ballard's published stories have been gathered together in one volume and set out in the order in which they were originally published, providing an unprecedented opportunity to review the career of one of Britain's greatest writers.Short Stories Books
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