Miracles of Life
Last night I finished reading Miracles of Life by J.G. Ballard. Here's what it says on the back of the book:
"J.G. Ballard has been, for over fifty years, one of this country's most significant writers. Beginning with the events that inspired his classic novel, Empire of the Sun, in this revelatory autobiography he charts the course of his astonishing life.
Miracles of Life takes us from the vibrant surroundings of pre-war Shanghai, to the deprivations and unexpected freedoms of Lunghua Camp, to Ballard's arrival in a devestated Britain. Ballard recounts his first attempts at fiction and his part in the social and artistic revolutions of the 60s. He describes his friendships with figures as diverse as Kingsley Amis, Michael Moorcock and Eduardo Paolozzi alongside recollections of his domestic life in Shepperton - raising three children as a single father after the premature death of his wife.
Miracles of Life is both a captivating narrative of the experiences that have shaped this extraordinary writer's works, his distinctive outlook and his original visions of the future, and is also an account of an entirely remarkable life."
The book is very interesting, although out of the thirty-odd books that Ballard has published it only treats in detail The Atrocity Exhibition, Empire of the Sun which was filmed by Steven Spielberg and Crash, which was turned into a hugely controversial film in 1996 by David Cronenberg. Ballard writes quite movingly about his family life, however the main problem is that the 1970s onwards are passed over in a few pages, with nothing about his more recent novels, which are very different from his earlier ones.
I was off work today and I went out early to meet my mum at eleven. However the traffic was so bad that I had to get off the bus very early and walk most of the way, luckily I magaged to get there in time. We went up to Cafe Rouge, a French restaurant, for a continental breakfast, which was basically a selection of croissants and crusty bread with butter and jam. It was really nice. After breakfast we split up and I bought a couple of DVDs in the sales: The complete series of Spaced and a boxed set of series one and two of The Mighty Boosh. On my way home I bought a large bottle of Coke and a copy of Radio Times. So I will have plenty of stuff to watch this evening.
"J.G. Ballard has been, for over fifty years, one of this country's most significant writers. Beginning with the events that inspired his classic novel, Empire of the Sun, in this revelatory autobiography he charts the course of his astonishing life.
Miracles of Life takes us from the vibrant surroundings of pre-war Shanghai, to the deprivations and unexpected freedoms of Lunghua Camp, to Ballard's arrival in a devestated Britain. Ballard recounts his first attempts at fiction and his part in the social and artistic revolutions of the 60s. He describes his friendships with figures as diverse as Kingsley Amis, Michael Moorcock and Eduardo Paolozzi alongside recollections of his domestic life in Shepperton - raising three children as a single father after the premature death of his wife.
Miracles of Life is both a captivating narrative of the experiences that have shaped this extraordinary writer's works, his distinctive outlook and his original visions of the future, and is also an account of an entirely remarkable life."
The book is very interesting, although out of the thirty-odd books that Ballard has published it only treats in detail The Atrocity Exhibition, Empire of the Sun which was filmed by Steven Spielberg and Crash, which was turned into a hugely controversial film in 1996 by David Cronenberg. Ballard writes quite movingly about his family life, however the main problem is that the 1970s onwards are passed over in a few pages, with nothing about his more recent novels, which are very different from his earlier ones.
I was off work today and I went out early to meet my mum at eleven. However the traffic was so bad that I had to get off the bus very early and walk most of the way, luckily I magaged to get there in time. We went up to Cafe Rouge, a French restaurant, for a continental breakfast, which was basically a selection of croissants and crusty bread with butter and jam. It was really nice. After breakfast we split up and I bought a couple of DVDs in the sales: The complete series of Spaced and a boxed set of series one and two of The Mighty Boosh. On my way home I bought a large bottle of Coke and a copy of Radio Times. So I will have plenty of stuff to watch this evening.
posted by WildatHeart87 at 9:08 AM
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