British writer Ballard James Graham: biography, creativity and best books

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The creator of transgressive fantasies James Ballard became the brightest, most extraordinary and memorable figure in English literature of the second half of the 20th century. The author was first known for his collections of short stories and novels, then psychological thrillers began to be published, which caused a lot of controversy among critics and readers.

James Ballard: biography

The future writer was born in 1930, on November 15th. His father was a British diplomat, so it is not surprising that the boy was born in Shanghai. The Second World War found the family in China. At the very beginning of the war, little James and his parents were placed in a Japanese concentration camp for civilians.

After the end of the war, the family was released and returned to London. Here Ballard James begins to go to school, after which he enters the UK BBC. Surrealist art had a huge impact on the future writer during the years of study and work.

First novel and othersworks

In 1956, James Graham Ballard began his writing career. At first, he published short stories that science fiction magazines happily accepted. Only in 1961, the writer's first novel, The Wind from Nowhere, was published, written in the genre of a disaster novel.

In 1970, the writer publishes the tenth collection of stories - "The Exhibition of Cruelty". The book brought Ballard real fame, causing a lot of controversy and a wave of criticism. Many of the works included in it could only partly be called science fiction. Ballard was never particularly interested in such traditional trappings of this genre as technology, progress, alien civilizations, the future, and the like. The writer paid special attention to psychological changes in a person under the influence of extraordinary circumstances. It was this passion of Ballard for human nature that was most evident in the collection. The heroes of the writer were people obsessed with phobias, ideas, a painful passion for various forms of violence.

Mental disorders as a source of inspiration

The continuation of these ideas was the novel "Car Crash", written in 1973. In J. G. Ballard's work, he describes the sexual pleasure that his character receives from car accidents. The character constantly scrolls in his head the plots of all kinds of accidents, in which even Elizabeth Taylor and Jacqueline Kennedy become participants. The American publisher, having received this manuscript for publication, returned it, naming the authormentally ill.

All subsequent publications of the writer were also devoted to various mental pathologies. Only in 1979 does the theme of Ballard's works change. Soon saw the light of the novel "Endless Cut Factory", which is erotic in nature, and the autobiographical works "Empire of the Sun" and "Hello America".

Hidden in the subconscious

Since the 80s of the 20th century, Ballard James has turned his attention to the dark side of the human subconscious. In unremarkable, everyday, everyday situations, the author shows the reader hidden violence. Such were the novels "Crazy", "Cocaine Nights", "Super Cannes", "People of the Millennium".

Ballard was considered one of England's leading language stylists and was often interviewed and asked for his opinion on political and social events. However, the writer himself did not like to be in public, never participated in political or public life, did not pay attention to the development of the literary process in Great Britain. In the 70s, Ballard moved to the London suburb of Shepperton, where he lived until the end of his days.

Autobiography and death

In January 2008, the autobiographical novel "The Miracles of Life" was released. Two years earlier, the writer admitted in an interview with The Sunday Times that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. It was the illness that prompted Ballard to write his biography.

The writer died in London on April 19, 2009 at the age of seventy-nine. This is the life path James Ballard went through.

High-Rise

The book starts out very urban. A huge construction site is being prepared for delivery, consisting of five residential complexes - skyscrapers. It is in one of these buildings that the events of the novel will take place. The skyscraper will turn into a kind of city where residents will be divided into social classes: the lower floors, where the apartments are the cheapest, will be occupied by waitresses, stewardesses and other representatives of low-paid professions, and at the very top penthouses of the richest and most famous representatives of the elite will nest.

Ballard James, choosing the main character from all this variety, stops at a representative of the middle class. This is Robert Lang, occupying an apartment on the twenty-fifth floor. The man recently turned 30, teaches at a medical school and is trying to recover from a divorce.

This work is one of the novels dedicated to the urban catastrophe. "High-rise" is not a dystopia, as it might seem at first glance, but rather a psychological thriller that shows how modern man is slowly degrading under the influence of developing technologies.

Violence Exhibition

The collection includes nineteen stories united by one theme. In the works, the author consistently refers to various pathologies and deviations in people's behavior. As noted above, the book received very mixed reviews, but undoubtedly made Ballard famous.

Only in 2012 the collection was released in Russian. Translation by Victor Lapitsky,according to critics and readers, it turned out very successful. The only drawback was the limited edition - only thirty copies.

Empire of the Sun

James Ballard, whose books mostly received a variety of ratings, turned to his past in his work. An example of such work was the book "Empire of the Sun". The work tells about life in a Chinese concentration camp during the Japanese occupation. It was based on those few years of the Second World War, when Ballard was still just a boy. The story tells truthfully about deaths, attempts to survive, hunger, cruelty of people to each other. The most amazing thing about the book is that there are no moral judgments here. Everything that happens is seen through the eyes of a child who adapts to the hardships of war. We can say that this is practically a collection of facts that the author himself witnessed.

In 1987, the novel was released. It was directed by Steven Spielberg and starred at the time as a very young Christian Bale. Ballard was incredibly admired by the latter's acting, as were most critics. However, the film itself received very mixed reviews.

Cocaine Nights

This novel, published in 1996, is a very strange mixture of dystopia and detective story. On the Mediterranean coast of Spain, a sophisticated murder is committed in one of the elite resorts. The protagonist of the work takes on an amateur investigation. HoweverBallard James has not betrayed himself here either: the main theme of the novel is not the search for a criminal. Much more important questions are raised here: what can shake up modern bourgeois society, awaken it from a lethargic sleep, kept by high fences of mansions, antidepressants and satellite TV?

The author gives a very unusual answer: violence, pornography and drugs will help you wake up. However, this hypothesis needs to be tested. It is this test that all the heroes of the novel will deal with.

The work, like all of Ballard's work, touches on issues of human nature itself, moral principles and understanding of good and evil.

Supercannes

The novel was released in 2000 and became a kind of thematic continuation of "Cocaine Nights". Events are again unfolding on the Mediterranean coast, but not at an elite resort, but in a business park. The hero will again get into a detective story and unravel the dark secrets that are hidden by representatives of modern business.

Former aviator Paul Sinclair and his wife Jane arrive at the Eden-Olympia Business Park on the Cote d'Azur. Here Jane must take the place of a pediatrician and therapist. Until recently, this role was played by David Greenwood, who went berserk and shot ten people in his rage. Ballard's heroes will have to find out what drives people crazy, what secrets a prosperous therapeutic complex hides and how contagious violence can be.

The Wonders of Life: From Shanghai to Shepperton

LastBallard's autobiographical book, in which the writer very frankly tells the story of his life. First, the reader finds himself in Shanghai, where the author spent his childhood, then the conclusion in a concentration camp for internees is described (not as colorful and detailed as in the "Empire of the Sun"). After the end of the war, the Ballard family returns to Britain; the country is ravaged by war. Then the story about the creative development of the writer begins. Ballard is very candid about his first attempts at storytelling, about the reasons that led him to create the Cruelty Exhibition. But the writer devotes time not only to creativity. He also talks about how hard it is to be a single father, which he became after the death of his wife.

The book has become a real gift for Ballard fans.

Small output

Books, biography and collection of works can tell a lot about the writer. James Graham Ballard appears to the reader as a man who sees the dangers that modern society is fraught with. His books are not madness, but a warning. Having seen in childhood the bestial faces of people prone to violence, he tirelessly warns humanity. Reminds us of the unpleasant side of our nature, which must be fought.