{"product_id":"selected-nonfiction-19622007-isbn-9780262553940","title":"Selected Nonfiction, 1962–2007","description":"\u003cb\u003eJ. G. Ballard's collected nonfiction from 1962 to 2007, mapping the cultural obsessions, experiences, and insights of one of the most original minds of his generation.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJ. G. Ballard was a colossal figure in English literature and an imaginative force of the twentieth century. Alongside seminal novels—from the notorious \u003ci\u003eCrash \u003c\/i\u003e(1973) to the semi-autobiographical \u003ci\u003eEmpire of the Sun \u003c\/i\u003e(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, \u003ci\u003eA User's Guide to the Millennium\u003c\/i\u003e (1996), which selected essays and reviews published between 1962 and 1995.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA decade on from Ballard's death in 2009, a new generation of readers needs a new collection. In the period following \u003ci\u003eA User's Guide\u003c\/i\u003e, 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.Table of Contents\u003cbr\u003e1. Statements 1\u003cbr\u003e2. New Worlds 19\u003cbr\u003e3. Commentaries 55\u003cbr\u003e4. Features and Essays 105\u003cbr\u003e5. Lists, Captions, and Glossaries 157\u003cbr\u003e6. Reviews 177\u003cbr\u003e7. \u003ci\u003eNew Statesman \u003c\/i\u003e287\u003cbr\u003e8. Forum Discussions 301\u003cbr\u003e9. Capsule Commentaries 309\u003cbr\u003e10. Memoir and Tributes 315\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgements 339\u003cbr\u003eBibliography 341\u003cbr\u003ePrimary Sources 341\u003cbr\u003eSuggested Further Reading 353\u003cbr\u003eIndex 357\"China-born English writer Ballard (\u003ci\u003eEmpire of the Sun\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eCrash\u003c\/i\u003e) wrote nonfiction in addition to his novels and short stories...This volume of nonfiction, edited by literary scholar and novelist Blacklock (\u003ci\u003eThe Emergence of the Fourth Dimension\u003c\/i\u003e), spans decades and covers topics like consumerism, Salvador Dalí, science fiction, future technology, civilization, and everyday ironies. The book is arranged by type of document (essays, reviews, commentaries), and the materials in each chapter are thus arranged chronologically. Ballard provides fascinating cultural criticism; he notes in 1962 that the U.S. population will likely be bored by space exploration, as real-life astronauts are not fitted with the robots and machines customary in a Buck Rogers adventure. Ballard excels at intriguing juxtapositions of items and ideas, a surrealism in prose form. A general introduction brings biographical context to Ballard’s life and work, and each chapter provides a contextual framework for the pieces within...An eclectic collection of essays for scholars of 20th-century literature.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—Library Journal\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“If everything for Ballard is fiction, what makes for inclusion in a selection of his nonfiction? Aware of his challenge, Blacklock hopes to ‘illuminate the full range of Ballard’s activities as a reviewer, essayist, journalist, commentator, memoirist, provocateur, compiler of lists, and talking head.’ He achieves this handsomely.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Times Literary Supplement\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Ballard is exceptionally prescient, capturing a world that didn’t yet fully exist or wasn’t visible to most.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eArtReview\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“As George Orwell died in January 1950 and J. G. Ballard began to publish professionally in 1956 we can describe the first as the greatest author of the twentieth century, and Ballard as the greatest author of the second part of the twentieth.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Orwell Society\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eJames Graham “J.G.” Ballard (1930-2009) was a British author and journalist. Best known for his dystopic works of science fiction, his novels include \u003ci\u003eCrash\u003c\/i\u003e (1973) and \u003ci\u003eHigh-Rise\u003c\/i\u003e (1975). His semi-autobiographicalnovel \u003ci\u003eEmpire of the Sun\u003c\/i\u003e (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. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMark Blacklock is Lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Literature at Birkbeck College, University of London. He is the author of the cultural history \u003ci\u003eThe Emergence of the Fourth Dimensio\u003c\/i\u003en, and his most recent novel \u003ci\u003eHinton \u003c\/i\u003ewas longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction in 2021.","brand":"The MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48233539338469,"sku":"NP9780262553940","price":27.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780262553940.jpg?v=1767736316","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/selected-nonfiction-19622007-isbn-9780262553940","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}