The what:
The complete stories of JG Ballard
98 collected short stories arranged chronologically from 1950-2003.
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The pitch:
[We are living in JG Ballards world](https://www.newstatesman.com/2020/04/why-we-are-living-jg-ballard-s-world)
While better known half a century ago, few today are reading JG Ballard. Especially his short stories, short stories popularity having declined with the decreases in science fiction magazines. Ballard believes there are no perfect novels but there are perfect short stories. He often used his short stories to explore ideas later fleshed put in his novels, so this collection will give you a small taste of all the themes he explored over his entire career. Because the stories are individually short, it's a very easy book to put down and come back to later without having to worry about remembering the plot. It's great pre-sleep reading.
Heres the introduction, which I think does a great job of speaking for itself:
Heres the introduction, which does a great job speaking for itself.
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He was very influential on later sci-fi writers like Philip K Dick. The outdated technologies used as fodder for plot and metaphor in the early stories are like visions of an alternate future via a half century ago. Its very interesting reading them now in 2020. He focuses a lot on civilization in decline and global environmental collapse stories. you'll see a lot of empty swimming pools and a lot of worlds at the very end of their lives, for a lot of reasons. But just sometimes these dead worlds are also filled with the sprouting of a new kind of life. A hostile environment drives evolution. Audio technology is frequently addressed, as is the doctor-patient relationship, you will find a number of artists whose art can destroy as well as create.
The ask:
The book is $35 dollars.
Watch "Empire Of The Sun", the movie based on his autobiography, before reading. Having even this much knowledge about his background will enormously inform your reading as it relates to the author. You will understand where the empty swimming pools are coming from. It'll make a very sad sense when the main character in "The Concentration City" dreams of flight.
Why it's a tough sell:
It's over 1000 pages, and about half the size of a cinderblock. (Though I'm always quick to remind people that because its devided into 98 stories, it's very easy to pick up again later). Even so it's still a big commitment.
It's hard enough to get people to read Vonnegut's Galapagos or PKD's Flow My Tears. A beefy tome of a short story collection by an author most people today have never heard of is a tough sell.
I really like the outdated technology in it but some people might not find that interesting.
People dont read short stories like they used to. Sort of a neglected art form. Everybody wants to write the great american novel nobodies out the trying to write the great american short story. Some would prefer to instead read some of his novels, like The Drowned World, one of the first global warming stories.
That's all I got.
I've been reading through this collection myself over the past year (very slowly) and it's been "A Mood". The Drowned World is actually the only novel I've read by him, but I knew how influential he was at the height of his career so I decided to purchase to explore him this was instead of through his novels. Its very interesting watching the stories change as the decades advance, it feels like you're time traveling along with the author. Consider checking it out!
