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    Selected Nonfiction, 1962-2007

    Ballard, J.G. (2023) Selected Nonfiction, 1962-2007. Boston, U.S.: The MIT Press. ISBN 9780262048323. (In Press)

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    Abstract

    J. G. Ballard was a colossal figure in English literature and an imaginative force of the twentieth century. Alongside seminal novels—from the notorious Crash (1973) to the semi-autobiographical Empire of the Sun (1984)—Ballard was a sought-after reviewer and commentator, publishing journalism, memoir, and cultural criticism in a variety of forms. This volume collects the most significant short nonfiction of Ballard's fifty-year career, extending the range of the only previous collection of his nonfiction, A User's Guide to the Millennium (1996), which selected essays and reviews published between 1962 and 1995. A decade on from Ballard's death in 2009, a new generation of readers needs a new collection. In the period following A User's Guide, Ballard's writing addressed 9/11, British politics from New Labour onward, and what he termed “the rise of soft fascism”—a diagnosis that maintains its relevance amid a shift toward right populism in European and US politics. Beautifully edited by Ballard scholar and novelist Mark Blacklock, this volume includes Ballard's editorials and manifestos; commentaries on his own work; commentaries on the work of others; reviews; and more. Above all, it makes the case for the currency of Ballard's work at a contemporary juncture at which so many of his diagnoses concerning the media and politics have become apparent.

    Metadata

    Item Type: Book
    Keyword(s) / Subject(s): J.G. Ballard, 20th Century, Literature
    School: Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Creative Arts, Culture and Communication
    Depositing User: Mark Blacklock
    Date Deposited: 05 Sep 2023 15:40
    Last Modified: 06 Sep 2023 13:51
    URI: https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/51886

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