goodbye, J.G. Ballard

[mckitterick]

New-Wave author J.G. Ballard died today, April 19, 2009.

Ballard was best known for books like the autobiographical Empire of the Sun (turned into an excellent movie) and Crash (also made into a movie), though I first discovered him with The Drowned World, via recommendation from James Gunn.

Ballard was a master of bleak worlds, almost always expressing an anti-technological view, one of the first to bring this perspective to SF. Though these views are pretty much antithetical to mine, I was nonetheless moved and impressed with his work, and he influenced how I write. And without him, SF would be a different creature today.

Best,
Chris

Comments

[arian1.livejournal.com]

Aww man. That TOTALLY sucks :(

[siro-gravity.livejournal.com]

oh.
sad.

i first discovered him through "the crystal world". and "empire of the sun" was a wonderful movie. last book i read of his was "running wild."

bye, mr. ballard.
:(

[robinbailey.livejournal.com]

I'd just finished posting about Ballard both on sff.net and on my own LiveJournal page. And as I was finishing the LJ page, Diana began reading to me Pat Cadigan's Facebook comments. The sad thing is that this is the most discussion of Ballard and his work that I've seen in a decade. I was particularly disheartened to see at least four recently published books on a bibliography page about which I'd heard absolutely nothing from a company called Flamingo about which I know absolutely nothing: SUPER-CANNES, MILENNIUM PEOPLE, KINGDOM COME, and one other I'm forgetting.

My personal favorite, among the books I've read, was TERMINAL BEACH. That just knocked me over. I remember discussing it once with John Kessel for what seemed like hours back when he lived in Kansas City. He was another big Ballard fan.


Best,
Robin

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know what you mean. I think part of it is that we've been spoiled, this genre, with so many of our greats and even our founders still walking among us, that perhaps we've not been paying proper attention to them. I mean, they're just men and women, right? Well, not really; they're our forebears, and we haven't been paying them proper attention for too long. I don't think they care once they're dead.

This is why I've been so happy to see more recognition from SFWA toward our mentors and heroes in recent years, because when they're gone, we'll no longer have the chance to show our respects.

[hlmt.livejournal.com]

Oh CRAP.

Ballard's language was exquisite--one of the first to turn me on to New Wave sf (a really big influence on the Francophones, too).

[chernobylred.livejournal.com]

Coilhouse has an article/eulogy for him, here.