 4/10 Good --- www.chronicles-network.com http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/forum/external.php
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Monday, June 30, 2008 --- 105 days ago http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/forum/46324-j-g-ballard.html
| I recently finished Running Wild - brilliant - and I am just about finished with War Fever. I've also read a few short story collections (including The Best SF Short Stories of... which is probably my 2nd favorite collection of short stories I've ever read, right after Alfred Bester's Virtual Unrealities), The Atrocity Exhibition, Empire of the Sun, and Concrete Jungle. Beyond his imaginative ideas, what I like best about Ballard is how he uses the form of the narrative to strengthen the theme. He thinks of both form and function, and how the two possess a symbiotic relationship. For instance, one "story" in War Fever is actually just a list of 40 or so answers to a questionnaire. However, we are never told who is taking the test, or what the questions were. Just based on the answers, it is up to us, the reader, to parse out the plot and the character. Another story is basically just a title, but each word in the title has a footnote to be read. It is all very fascinating, and many of his stories are written in such a way. I own, or have recently ordered/purchased, about 15 of Ballard's books, and I am greatly looking forward to reading each and every one. And with his ailing health (I've heard that his prostate cancer has spread throughout much of his body), it looks like another brilliant SF author will be leaving us all too soon. If any of you haven't yet read Ballard, I would first ask why, and secondly I would encourage you to do ... |
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Anytime
