Selected Nonfiction, 1962-2007

"The non-fiction of J. G. Ballard: statements, essays, articles, commentaries, lists, reviews, tributes, and more"--

James Graham “J.G.” Ballard (1930-2009) was a British author and journalist. Best known for his dystopic works of science fiction, his novels include Crash (1973) and High-Rise (1975). His semi-autobiographicalnovel Empire of the Sun (1984) was adapted by Stephen Spielberg in the 1987 film of the same name. Luminous, wry, and arresting, Ballard’s writing endures as a touchstone for popular conceptions of post-apocalyptic landscapes, mass media, and emergent technologies. Mark Blacklock is Lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Literature at Birkbeck College, University of London. He is the author of the cultural history The Emergence of the Fourth Dimension, and his most recent novel Hinton was longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction in 2021.

FOREWORD BY TOM MCCARTHY xi INTRODUCTION xv NOTES ON THE EDITION xxxi 1 STATEMENTS 1  Which Way to Inner Space? (1962) 3  Notes from Nowhere (1966) 7  Introduction to the French Edition of Crash! (1974/1975) 10  What I Believe (1984) 15 2 NEW WORLDS 19  Myth Maker of the 20th Century (1964) 23  La Jetée, Academy One (1966) 28  The Coming of the Unconscious (1966) 30  The Thousand Wounds and Flowers (1969) 35  Salvador Dali: The Innocent as Paranoid (1969) 38  Use Your Vagina (1969) 46  Alphabets of Unreason (1969) 50 3 COMMENTARIES 55  On Own Work: Novels 56 The Drowned World (1963) 57 The Atrocity Exhibition (1969) 59 Concrete Island (1994) 60 Hello America (1994) 62  On Own Work: Stories and Collections 64 “Storm- Wind” (1961) 65 “You and Me and the Continuum” (1966) 65 “End- Game” (1968) 66 Vermilion Sands (1973/1992) 68 The Best Science Fiction of J. G. Ballard (1977) 70 Le livre d’or de la science- fiction: J. G. Ballard (1980) 76 Myths of the Near Future (1982) 78 “Report on an Unidentified Space Station” (1985) 80 J. G. Ballard: The Complete Short Stories (2001) 80  On Work of Others: Literature 82 “Cataclysms and Dooms” in The Visual Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1977) 83 Graham Greene (1978) 84 James Joyce (1990) 86 Nathanael West (1993) 87 Aldous Huxley (1994) 89  On Work of Others: Art 91 Eduardo Paolozzi (1970) 94 Ikko Narahara (1980) 94 Brigid Marlin (1990) 96 Paul Delvaux (1996) 97 Robert Smithson (1997) 99 Tacita Dean (2001) 100 Ed Ruscha (2001) 102 Francis Bacon (2004) 103 4 FEATURES AND ESSAYS 105  Fictions of Every Kind (1971) 108  The Consumer Consumed (1971) 111  The Car, the Future (1971) 113  The Future of the Future (1977) 119  The Diary of a Mad Space Wife (1979) 123  In the Voyeur’s Gaze (1989) 127  The French Riviera Spoiled? Only by Fear and Snobbery (1995) 132  Airports: The Cities of the Future (1997) 136  Welcome to the Virtual City (2001) 139  The Prophet (2005) 141  A Handful of Dust (2006) 145  Shock and Gore (2007) 149  The Larval Stage of a New Kind of Architecture (2007) 152 5 LISTS, CAPTIONS, AND GLOSSARIES 157  Collector’s Choice: Outer Limits (1987) 159  Project for a Glossary of the Twentieth Century (1992) 164  Impressions of Speed (1998) 170  What Makes a Classic? (1999) 174 6 REVIEWS 177  Books 177 The Science of Dreams by Edwin Diamond (1963) 179 Down to Earth: Spectrum IV, edited by Kingsley Amis and Robert Conquest; Telepathist by John Brunner; I Love Galesburg in the Springtime by Jack Finney; An Arthur C. Clarke Omnibus (1965) 180 Into the Drop Zone: Beyond Time by Michel Siffre (1965) 182 The See- Through Brain: We by Yevgeny Zamyatin (1970) 183 A Personal View: Billion Year Spree by Brian Aldiss (1974) 185 Zap Code: Approaching Oblivion by Harlan Ellison; Shadrach in the Furnace by Robert Silverberg; Medusa’s Children by Bob Shaw (1977) 191 Killing Time: The Executioner’s Song by Norman Mailer (1979) 193 New Means Worse: The Golden Age of Science Fiction, edited by Kingsley Amis (1981) 195 Fallen Idol: Elvis by Albert Goldman (1981) 197 Legend of Regret: Some Sort of Epic Grandeur: The Life of F. Scott Fitzgerald by Matthew J. Bruccoli (1982) 199 Autopia or Autogeddon: Automania by Julian Pettifer and Nigel Turner; The Centenary of the Car, 1885– 1985 by Andrew Whyte; Rolls- Royce: The Complete Works by Mike Fox and Steve Smith (1984) 201 Escape into the Seraglio: Hockney on Photography: Conversations by Paul Joyce (1988) 203 Days Strung on a Syringe with a Thread of Blood: Literary Outlaw: The Life and Times of William S. Burroughs by Ted Morgan (1991) 206 Chainsaw Biomassacre in Glorious Horoscope: Nancy Reagan: The Unauthorized Biography by Kitty Kelley (1991) 208 Sermons from the Mount: Fates Worse Than Death by Kurt Vonnegut (1991) 211 Rituals of a Skinny Dipper: Haunts of the Black Masseur: The Swimmer as Hero by Charles Sprawson (1992) 214 Was the Holocaust Scripted by This Man? Marquis de Sade: A Biography by Maurice Lever (1993) 215 Let the Women Have Lipstick and High Heels: Deng Xiaoping and the Making of Modern China by Richard Evans (1993) 217 Mouse That Bores: Walt Disney: Hollywood’s Dark Prince by Marc Eliot (1994) 219 The Puccini of Cinema Grows Up: Steven Spielberg: The Unauthorised Biography by John Baxter (1996) 221 Weirdly Wise: Lynch on Lynch, edited by Chris Rodley (1997) 224 Return of the Future: The First Dozen Titles in the Predictions Series Published by Phoenix House, London (1997) 227 Sands of Time: The Beach: The History of Paradise on Earth by Lena Lincek and Gideon Bosker (1998) 230 They’re Falling Out of the Sky: The Black Box: Cockpit Voice Recorder Accounts of In- Flight Accidents, edited by Malcolm MacPherson (1998) 233 Reach for the Sky: Lindbergh by A. Scott Berg (1998) 235 Analyst’s Couch Potato: Woody Allen: A Biography by John Baxter (1998) 238 License to Kill: The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang (1999) 240 Fashion Victim: Pages from the Glossies: Facsimiles 1956– 1998 by Helmut Newton (1999) 244 The Maestro Who Campaigned Against His Greatest Work: The Enigma of Giorgio de Chirico by Margaret Crosland (1999) 246 A Staircase of Corpses: Build My Gallows High by Geoffrey Homes (2001) 248 Prophet of Our Present: Aldous Huxley: An English Intellectual by Nicholas Murray (2002) 250 This Boy Does Talk. Who Is He? King of Cannes by Stephen Walker (2002) 253 The Unlimited Dream Company: The Bad and the Beautiful: A Chronicle of Hollywood in the Fifties by Sam Kashner and Jennifer MacNair (2002) 256 The Ultimate Sacrifice: Kamikaze: Japan’s Suicide Gods by Albert Axell and Hideaki Kase (2002) 259 A World of Endless Summer: High Tide: News from a Warming World by Mark Lynas (2004) 261 Flush with Talent: Shepperton Babylon: The Lost Worlds of British Cinema by Matthew Sweet (2005) 263 The Day of Reckoning: A Woman in Berlin by Anonymous, and Germany: Jekyll and Hyde by Sebastian Haffner (2005) 265  Films 269 Hobbits in Space: Star Wars (1977) 270 Blue Velvet (1993) 273 The Third Man (2002) 274 In Modern America, No Nightmare Is Forbidden: The Day After Tomorrow (2004) 275 The Killer Inside: A History of Violence (2005) 276  Television 281 In Cold Blood: C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation (2005) 282 7 NEW STATESMAN 287  Diary (1999) 289  Diary (2001) 291  Now Parliament Is Just Another Hypermarket (2005) 294  Diary: A Fascist’s Guide to the Premiership (2006) 297 8 FORUM DISCUSSIONS 301  The State of Fiction: A Symposium (1978) 303  Cyberpunk Forum (1988) 304  A Response to the Invitation to Respond (1991) 304  Nurse, the Screens (1998) 305 9 CAPSULE COMMENTARIES 309  The Magnificent Seven (1994) 310  Apocalypse How? (1995) 310  The Westway (2001) 310  My Perfect Beach (2002) 311  Writer’s Rooms (2007) 312 10 MEMOIR AND TRIBUTES 315  Remembering Crash (1990) 317  Unlocking the Past (1991) 318  My Favourite Books (1992) 323  Look Back at Empire (2006) 328  Eduardo Paolozzi (1987) 332  Brian Aldiss (1990) 333  Judith Merril (1992) 334  William S. Burroughs (1997) 337 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 339 BIBLIOGRAPHY 341  Primary Sources 341  Suggested Further Reading 353 INDEX 357