JG Ballard died today

[jikan myshkin]

RIP one of the greatest writers ever, who mapped out the mind and the soul (and elizabth taylor's body)

[sixsmith]

Hear hear

[Virgil]

Oh that is a shame. I've never read him. Well, here's a BBC news clip:


Cult author JG Ballard dies at 78

JG Ballard reads from his book Kingdom Come (Newsnight Review, September 2006)
The author JG Ballard, famed for novels such as Crash and Empire of the Sun, has died aged 78 after a long illness.

His agent Margaret Hanbury said the author had been ill "for several years" and had died on Sunday morning.

Despite being referred to as a science fiction writer, Jim Ballard said his books were instead "picturing the psychology of the future".

His most acclaimed novel was Empire of the Sun, based on his childhood in a Japanese prison camp in China.

The author of 15 novels and scores of short stories, Ballard grew up amongst the expatriate community in Shanghai.

During World War II, at the age of 12, he was interned for three years in a camp run by the Japanese.

He later moved to Britain and in the early 1960s became a full-time writer.

Ballard built up a passionate readership, particularly after Empire of The Sun, a fictionalised account of his childhood, was made into a film by Steven Spielberg.

He said of his experiences: "I have - I won't say happy - not unpleasant memories of the camp. I remember a lot of the casual brutality and beatings-up that went on, but at the same time we children were playing a hundred and one games all the time!"

His friend and fellow author, Iain Sinclair, said Ballard had developed into a major literary figure.

"He was one of the first to take up the whole idea of ecological catastrophe. He was fascinated by celebrity early on, the cult of the star and suicides of cars, motorways, edgelands of cities.

"All of these things he was one of the first to create almost a philosophy of. And I think as time has gone on, he's become a major, major figure." [SNIP]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8007331.stm

[Jozanny]

I only saw bits of the film. For those who know the books, et al, I'd be interested in a brief evaluation. Thanks for the obit Virgil.

[lupe]

A good and innovative writer, I`ve always find his books interesting. `Crash` was quite fascinating...

[Apocrypha75]

Empire of the Sun was decent. Haven't read anything else of his.

[Pecksie]

I read a book of short stories by him last summer - 'The Day of Forever and other stories'. I don't usually read science fiction, but some of the pieces in that book were amazing. I enjoyed it a lot. Have been wanting to read more by him for some time. I'm sorry to hear that he died.