tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1484180326012950400.post4120438048277231113..comments2024-03-27T23:55:17.673-07:00Comments on Flogging Babel: The Good Doctor: J. G. Ballard (1930-2009)Michael Swanwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18389836784776252022noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1484180326012950400.post-70110248231055063542009-05-18T16:48:00.000-07:002009-05-18T16:48:00.000-07:00Michael:
Thanks for your generous comments on Bal...Michael:<br /><br />Thanks for your generous comments on Ballard. I'm intrigued by this:<br /><br />" 'Don't get me wrong,' Terry Gross said to Ballard in an NPR interview about the movie, 'but it seems like all these people are . . . well, sick.'<br /><br />" 'Yes!' Ballard said. 'Exactly!' "<br /><br />That bit doesn't appear in the version of the NPR interview Terry Gross did with JGB in 1988 which has been made available online at the NPR site since his death. But I note you say: "... an NPR interview _about the movie_." The movie didn't exist in 1988 -- it wasn't released until 1996 (1997 in the US).<br /><br />Does this mean that there were _two_ NPR interviews with JGB? The one we know about in 1988 (following Spielberg's _Empire of the Sun_), and another, probably in 1997 (following Cronenberg's _Crash_)?<br /><br />Is your quotation from memory, or do you have a copy of that 1997 interview? I'd be very interested to know!<br /><br />David.<br /><br />(Ballard bibliographer -- and former editor of _Interzone_.)David Pringlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07221462436404686786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1484180326012950400.post-16891685002065608862009-04-21T10:30:00.000-07:002009-04-21T10:30:00.000-07:00The first of the Ballard's short stories I have re...The first of the Ballard's short stories I have read was "The Enormous Space", published in Interzone in the '80. It was dazzling for the adolescent that I was. He wrote there, I remember clearly: "...this overworked hologram called reality" - a few words that I could never get out of my mind.<br />He is, no doubt, one of the most important writers of the past century.Dumitru Statescuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15706191334834581553noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1484180326012950400.post-25193395909291148122009-04-21T07:15:00.000-07:002009-04-21T07:15:00.000-07:00The safest way to get a sense of what we've just l...The safest way to get a sense of what we've just lost is to find a copy of VERMILLION SANDS, a collection of stories set in a decadent resort town in the future. Elegant women walk genmod sharks on leashes, artists sculpt clouds, machines write poetry, clothing is alive... This is the one everybody loves.<br /><br />However, to get a sense of Ballard at his most breathtaking, you need to try CRASH or HIGH-RISE (in which the inhabitants of the eponymous building fight a war among themselves; which they keep secret from the outside world because they're enjoying it too much) or CONCRETE ISLAND (sort of a modern Robinson Crusoe, where the hero is stranded on a traffic island). Dark and challenging stuff.Michael Swanwickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18389836784776252022noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1484180326012950400.post-39302834908219826742009-04-20T16:40:00.000-07:002009-04-20T16:40:00.000-07:00I have never read any of Ballard's novels, but he ...I have never read any of Ballard's novels, but he always seemed pretty hit or miss as a short story writer. Some of his short stories were great (Like the one where some guys try to prove that space is actually infinite and give up after circumnavigating the globe on a train, thinking that they have proven themselves wrong), but others (like the one that appeared in _Dangerous Visions_) were pretty weak. Whenever someone like this passes away I regret not having read more of their stuff.David Stonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09983230505509685792noreply@blogger.com