J.G. Ballard


Born
in Shanghai, China
November 15, 1930

Died
April 19, 2009

Genre

Influences


James Graham "J. G." Ballard (15 November 1930 – 19 April 2009) was an English novelist, short story writer, and essayist. Ballard came to be associated with the New Wave of science fiction early in his career with apocalyptic (or post-apocalyptic) novels such as The Drowned World (1962), The Burning World (1964), and The Crystal World (1966). In the late 1960s and early 1970s Ballard focused on an eclectic variety of short stories (or "condensed novels") such as The Atrocity Exhibition (1970), which drew closer comparison with the work of postmodernist writers such as William S. Burroughs. In 1973 the highly controversial novel Crash was published, a story about symphorophilia and car crash fetishism; the protagonist becomes sexually arous ...more

Average rating: 3.69 · 205,553 ratings · 18,216 reviews · 472 distinct worksSimilar authors
High-Rise

3.63 avg rating — 41,730 ratings — published 1975 — 98 editions
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Crash

3.63 avg rating — 32,569 ratings — published 1973 — 12 editions
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Empire of the Sun

3.98 avg rating — 22,851 ratings — published 1984 — 135 editions
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The Drowned World

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3.47 avg rating — 21,033 ratings — published 1962 — 5 editions
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Concrete Island

3.67 avg rating — 10,536 ratings — published 1974 — 59 editions
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The Atrocity Exhibition

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3.76 avg rating — 7,298 ratings — published 1969 — 64 editions
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Cocaine Nights

3.56 avg rating — 6,802 ratings — published 1996
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Super-Cannes

3.72 avg rating — 5,169 ratings — published 2000
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The Crystal World

3.60 avg rating — 4,873 ratings — published 1966 — 15 editions
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Running Wild

3.56 avg rating — 3,535 ratings — published 1988 — 48 editions
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More books by J.G. Ballard…
Empire of the Sun The Kindness of Women
(2 books)
by
3.96 avg rating — 24,328 ratings

The Complete Short Stories:... The Complete Short Stories:...
(2 books)
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4.38 avg rating — 2,606 ratings

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Quotes by J.G. Ballard  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“I believe in the power of the imagination to remake the world, to release the truth within us, to hold back the night, to transcend death, to charm motorways, to ingratiate ourselves with birds, to enlist the confidences of madmen.”
J.G. Ballard

“Perhaps the future belongs to magic, and it's we women who control magic.”
J. G. Ballard, Rushing to Paradise

“Civilised life, you know, is based on a huge number of illusions in which we all collaborate willingly. The trouble is we forget after a while that they are illusions and we are deeply shocked when reality is torn down around us.”
J.G. Ballard

Polls

JUNE SCIENCE FICTION -- this poll decides which two books will go into the run off poll of the Science Fiction Book of the Month for June.

 
  17 votes, 22.4%

 
  17 votes, 22.4%

 
  14 votes, 18.4%

 
  11 votes, 14.5%

 
  9 votes, 11.8%

 
  8 votes, 10.5%

More...

Topics Mentioning This Author

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