5 ms·
J.G. Ballard: My Favorite Books
- Der_Einzige 3y agoI read "Crash"[1] by J.G. Ballard because I was forced to read a review of it in Jean Baudrillard's "Simulation and Simulacra"[2]. The number one take away? French post-modernist thinkers and authors are extremely sexually deranged[3][4]. Perfect for Cronenberg [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crash_(Ballard_novel) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crash_(Ballard_novel) [2] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulacra_and_Simulation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulacra_and_Simulation [3] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_petitions_against_age_of_consent_laws https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_petitions_against_age_o... [4] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oedipus_complex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oedipus_complex
- ghaff 3y agoBallard wrote quite a variety of works from fairly weird, experimental stuff through books in the basically English world destroyed vein (of which Wyndham was probably the best practitioner).
- dang 3y agoEvery disaffected teenager should read the Chrysalids. It captures perfectly the feeling that one is a mutant in a deranged adult society, by making it literal.
- zabzonk 3y agoperhaps indication of a slight sense of humor failure? of the 10, not all of which i have read, only "naked lunch" is really funny.
- cgh 3y agoHe does mention the thrilling surreality of the LA Yellow Pages.
- ecliptik 3y agoWhile Ballard is more popularly known for Crash and Empire of the Sun, I can't recommend his earlier works enough, especially his short stories. Many of his writings were ahead of his time [1]. A particular favorite of mine is "Studio 5, the Stars"[2] which written in 1961, brings up a lot of the feelings around GenAI and art today [3]. 1. https://www.newstatesman.com/uncategorized/2020/04/why-we-are-living-jg-ballard-s-world https://www.newstatesman.com/uncategorized/2020/04/why-we-ar... 2. https://readerslibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/Studio-5-The-Stars.pdf https://readerslibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/Studio-5-The-S... 3. https://aroundscifi.us/en/studio-5-the-stars-ballards-1961-short-that-already-told-the-story-of-text-generating-ais/ https://aroundscifi.us/en/studio-5-the-stars-ballards-1961-s...
- PaulHoule 3y agoMy evil twin checked out a lot of Ballard books from the library, some of which I read and some of which I still have. I really like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Rise_(novel) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Rise_(novel) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete_Island https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete_Island I find it hard to believe that https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello_America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello_America didn't have some impact on Fallout New Vegas.
- busfahrer 3y agoI literally started reading his short stories yesterday. Can you recommend some favorites? So far, I’ve read Terminal Beach and The Drowned Giant.
- ghaff 3y agoWhen I wrote something on recommended short stories a while back, I picked Chronopolis and also wrote "Other Ballard shorts that aren't too experimental include "The Drowned Giant," "The Overloaded Man," and perhaps the most conventionally SF "Thirteen for Centaurus.""
- ecliptik 3y agoI put a few of my favorites in a comment a couple of months ago, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38237862 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38237862 Since then I've also really enjoyed "The Ultimate City", which is Solarpunk before it was called Solarpunk.
- jgrahamc 3y agoThe Atrocity Exhibition is a strange book: I both found it very hard to read and utterly enthralling and fascinating.
- Isamu 3y agoWish I could upvote more
- kleiba 3y agoJeez, for a split second, I thought this was about Fabrice Bellard's list of his favorite books. Been in this business for too long...
- vmilner 3y agoChristopher Priest was working on a biography of Ballard when he died this week.
- gerikson 3y agoThat's sad and interesting to hear. Hopefully there's enough material to be published.
- r721 3y agoThere's also this: https://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Metaphors-J-G-Ballard-ebook/dp/B007QOXKHI/ https://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Metaphors-J-G-Ballard-ebook/d... ("A startling and at times unsettlingly prescient collection of J.G. Ballard’s greatest interviews.") I didn't read it though, just know about its existence from following Simon Sellars (of ballardian.com fame) on Twitter.
- method_capital 3y agoNaked Lunch? Unsubscribe. Burroughs, the degenerate murderer -- literally -- is the most overrated writer of all time.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- jim-jim-jim 3y agoBurroughs is the most visual author I know, but neither he nor the reader are fully in control of what's painted. He has the process. I think he works for people with a rich inner monologue, which is leveraged against you. Dredge up some odd childhood memories, rotate some shapes, and then give him another go. Or you can read "Junky" or "Queer."
- jaxson999 3y agoI think Burroughs is interesting as a person but I agree. I just can't take a list seriously that has Naked Lunch as some masterpiece. I don't care who the person is. I can judge for myself and Naked Lunch is complete shit.
- senthil_rajasek 3y ago'My copy of the Los Angeles “Yellow Pages” I stole from the Beverly Hilton Hotel three years ago; ....' Hah. This man gets a kick out of reading the phone book.
- jdriselvato 3y agoI wondered why myself, but look at the ads in an old phone book. The ad art can invoke a lot of imagery in itself. https://hpr.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/L_VNBK-YellowPages-Interior-LA-1973-600x387.jpg?v=1697582017 https://hpr.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/L_VNBK-YellowPage...
- Jun8 3y agoHe stresses the strong impression Treasure Island left on him: “… frightening but in a positive way.” I must have read it when I was 11 or 12 and that’s a great way to summarize the feelings it evoked. In fact, I still can feel the dread of trading Jim’s account of the blind beggar pushing the piece of paper into his hand! On that note I also remember how much I enjoyed Haggard’s She (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/She:_A_History_of_Adventure https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/She:_A_History_of_Adventure) but the end was quite frightening, too. I still distinctly remember even the color is the couch cover (and it’s feeling on my skin) on which I read that ending.
- euroderf 3y agoFwiw.. High Rise does a nice job of describing a smooth, continuous, piecewise-imperceptible transition from sanity to insanity. (As does Cronenberg's film Dead Ringers. In contrast to the film Falling Down, which coughs up an insanity hairball in the encounter with the Korean shopkeeper, eliding the need for a lot of character development.)
- wly_cdgr 3y agoGood taste. Day Of The Locust is goated.
- _rpxpx 3y agoGreat article - thanks for posting. Recommend checking out The Unlimited Dream Company. Must be the greatest ever work of psychedelic literature.
- optimalsolver 3y agoI always recommend his short story "Report On An Unidentified Space Station": https://sseh.uchicago.edu/doc/roauss.htm https://sseh.uchicago.edu/doc/roauss.htm
- Dennisraul 3y ago[flagged]
- da39a3ee 3y ago> That same handicap I see borne today by those people who spend their university years reading English literature — scarcely a degree subject at all and about as rigorous a discipline as music criticism Harsh but true. For many of us in our 30s and 40s, our parents came from a generation which considered all university subjects to be equal and which encouraged their children to just "study whatever they want" at University. A reminder that they are wrong in today's world (have been wrong for a quarter of a century).