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Extreme Metaphors: Selected Interviews with J.G. Ballard, 1967-2008
A startling and at times unsettlingly prescient collection of J.G. Ballard’s greatest interviews.
J.G. Ballard was a literary giant. His novels were unique and surprising. To the journalists and admirers who sought him out, Ballard was the ‘seer of Shepperton’; his home the vantage from which he observed the rising suburban tide, part of a changing society captured and second-guessed so plausibly in his fiction.
Such acuity was not exclusive to his novels and, as this book reminds us, Ballard’s restive intelligence sharpened itself in dialogue. He entertained many with insights into the world as he saw it, and speculated, often correctly, about its future. Some of these observations earned Ballard an oracular reputation, and continue to yield an uncannily accurate commentary today.
Now, for the first time, ‘Extreme Metaphors’ collects the finest interviews of his career. Conversations with cultural figureheads such as Will Self, Jon Savage, Iain Sinclair and John Gray, and collaborators like David Cronenberg, are a reminder of his wit and humanity, testament to Ballard’s profound worldliness as much as his otherworldly imagination. This collection is an indispensable tribute to one of recent history’s most incisive and original thinkers.
J.G. Ballard was a literary giant. His novels were unique and surprising. To the journalists and admirers who sought him out, Ballard was the ‘seer of Shepperton’; his home the vantage from which he observed the rising suburban tide, part of a changing society captured and second-guessed so plausibly in his fiction.
Such acuity was not exclusive to his novels and, as this book reminds us, Ballard’s restive intelligence sharpened itself in dialogue. He entertained many with insights into the world as he saw it, and speculated, often correctly, about its future. Some of these observations earned Ballard an oracular reputation, and continue to yield an uncannily accurate commentary today.
Now, for the first time, ‘Extreme Metaphors’ collects the finest interviews of his career. Conversations with cultural figureheads such as Will Self, Jon Savage, Iain Sinclair and John Gray, and collaborators like David Cronenberg, are a reminder of his wit and humanity, testament to Ballard’s profound worldliness as much as his otherworldly imagination. This collection is an indispensable tribute to one of recent history’s most incisive and original thinkers.
533 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 27, 2012
66 people are currently reading
571 people want to read
About the author
J.G. Ballard
469 books4,073 followersJames Graham "J. G." Ballard (15 November 1930 – 19 April 2009) was an English novelist, short story writer, and essayist. Ballard came to be associated with the New Wave of science fiction early in his career with apocalyptic (or post-apocalyptic) novels such as The Drowned World (1962), The Burning World (1964), and The Crystal World (1966). In the late 1960s and early 1970s Ballard focused on an eclectic variety of short stories (or "condensed novels") such as The Atrocity Exhibition (1970), which drew closer comparison with the work of postmodernist writers such as William S. Burroughs. In 1973 the highly controversial novel Crash was published, a story about symphorophilia and car crash fetishism; the protagonist becomes sexually aroused by staging and participating in real car crashes. The story was later adapted into a film of the same name by Canadian director David Cronenberg.
While many of Ballard's stories are thematically and narratively unusual, he is perhaps best known for his relatively conventional war novel, Empire of the Sun (1984), a semi-autobiographical account of a young boy's experiences in Shanghai during the Second Sino-Japanese War as it came to be occupied by the Japanese Imperial Army. Described as "The best British novel about the Second World War" by The Guardian, the story was adapted into a 1987 film by Steven Spielberg.
The literary distinctiveness of Ballard's work has given rise to the adjective "Ballardian", defined by the Collins English Dictionary as "resembling or suggestive of the conditions described in J. G. Ballard's novels and stories, especially dystopian modernity, bleak man-made landscapes and the psychological effects of technological, social or environmental developments." The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry describes Ballard's work as being occupied with "eros, thanatos, mass media and emergent technologies".
While many of Ballard's stories are thematically and narratively unusual, he is perhaps best known for his relatively conventional war novel, Empire of the Sun (1984), a semi-autobiographical account of a young boy's experiences in Shanghai during the Second Sino-Japanese War as it came to be occupied by the Japanese Imperial Army. Described as "The best British novel about the Second World War" by The Guardian, the story was adapted into a 1987 film by Steven Spielberg.
The literary distinctiveness of Ballard's work has given rise to the adjective "Ballardian", defined by the Collins English Dictionary as "resembling or suggestive of the conditions described in J. G. Ballard's novels and stories, especially dystopian modernity, bleak man-made landscapes and the psychological effects of technological, social or environmental developments." The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry describes Ballard's work as being occupied with "eros, thanatos, mass media and emergent technologies".
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
May 26, 2015
Some things I learnt about J.G. Ballard from these interviews:
- he thought of "Gray's Anatomy" as the greatest novel of the 20th century
- he wasn't opposed to pollution and preferred concrete to meadows
- he would rather have been a painter instead of a writer
- he believed that William S. Burroughs was the most important writer to emerge since WW II
- he believed that a fertile imagination was better than any drug (in fact, he preferred whisky and soda to drugs)
- he considered the Warren Report on the JFK Assassination and a medical textbook on car crash injuries to be his bibles
- he didn't find the Yorkshire Ripper to be all that interesting
- he liked David Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes" video
- he apparently didn't own a single record (or even a record player)
- he was against the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
- he was a fan of the films Blue Velvet, Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Mad Max 2, La Dolce Vita, Alphaville, Point Blank (but didn't like Blade Runner, Alien, or the Star Wars films)
- he thought that "Crash" was his most original and best book
- he wasn't a car buff (and he drove a Ford Granada)
- he believed that "the bourgeois novel is the greatest enemy of truth and honesty that was ever invented"
- his favorite building in the world was the Heathrow Hilton
- he never liked horror films
- he tried to write a follow-up to "The Atrocity Exhibition" a few times but never got far in such attempts
- he thought of "Gray's Anatomy" as the greatest novel of the 20th century
- he wasn't opposed to pollution and preferred concrete to meadows
- he would rather have been a painter instead of a writer
- he believed that William S. Burroughs was the most important writer to emerge since WW II
- he believed that a fertile imagination was better than any drug (in fact, he preferred whisky and soda to drugs)
- he considered the Warren Report on the JFK Assassination and a medical textbook on car crash injuries to be his bibles
- he didn't find the Yorkshire Ripper to be all that interesting
- he liked David Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes" video
- he apparently didn't own a single record (or even a record player)
- he was against the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
- he was a fan of the films Blue Velvet, Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Mad Max 2, La Dolce Vita, Alphaville, Point Blank (but didn't like Blade Runner, Alien, or the Star Wars films)
- he thought that "Crash" was his most original and best book
- he wasn't a car buff (and he drove a Ford Granada)
- he believed that "the bourgeois novel is the greatest enemy of truth and honesty that was ever invented"
- his favorite building in the world was the Heathrow Hilton
- he never liked horror films
- he tried to write a follow-up to "The Atrocity Exhibition" a few times but never got far in such attempts
October 26, 2022
Quite nice - and surprising in places. Recommended.
December 13, 2022
Ballard is one of the most engaging and willing interview subjects one could ask for, meaning that even though there is some inevitable repetition over the course of 40 years worth of conversations (you'll definitely get tired of interviewers asking about his time in a Japanese prison camp and what if any effect it had on his writing), there is far less redundant material than one normally finds in a collected interviews format. There's also the fact that Ballard was almost eerily prescient and astute with respect to his understanding of contemporary society and the direction in which it was and is heading; he was well ahead of the curve in anticipating both the inward retreat and isolation that would result from widespread access to the Internet, he predicted without an iota of equivocation that OJ would be acquitted (and would profit from it, though he expected him to be paid to play himself in a biopic about the trial-- not quite), he saw Reagan winning the presidency back in the 60s and viewed him as the first of a new breed of politicians whose only important quality was how they looked and sounded on TV with little to no attention paid to what they actually said, he predicted the ubiquity of cheap and high-quality audio-video equipment would lead to people acting as the "stars" of their own "movies" in which their manufactured self image was the lead role... this is really just scratching the surface of the sort of thing he was discussing and forecasting decades ago. We also learn of his taste in movies (loved Mad Max 2, Blue Velvet and The Incredible Shrinking Man; hated Star Wars, Star Trek, Blade Runner and Alien), his most cherished possessions (a chess set his father gave him, a skull from an anatomy class, a photograph of himself and his kids just after the sudden death of his first wife, a ceremonial wooden horse artifact given to him by his Japanese translator, a wrecked automobile), his enduring love for Surrealist writers and painters, his belief that the Warren Commission Report and Gray's Anatomy are the key texts of the 20th century, and a lot more. An essential, thoroughly entertaining collection for Ballard fans to go through over the course of a few weeks.
Read
November 29, 2020Although JG Ballard stopped writing science fiction in the late sixties and regarded the genre as having ended with the space age itself, this collection of his interviews does make clear that he was remarkably adept at futurology. Over the course of this collection Ballard discusses his realisation that Reagan would become President before predicting reality television and same-sex marriage. His observation that the future envisaged by science fiction is now the past chimes with William Gibson's observation that the future is already here, even if it isn't evenly distributed. Gibson's switch to 'presentism' also mirrors the trajectory of Ballard's career, where the surrealist visions of 'The Crystal World' or 'The Unlimited Dream Company' eventually gave way to the pyschopathology of inner space mapped out from 'Crash' to 'Super Cannes.'
Although Ballard would have repudiated the term, his ability to interpret how technology would leave a post-traditional society increasingly deranged made him probably the great realist writer of my lifetime. That's why I often wonder how he would have responded to events over the course of the decade since his death. The author of 'The Drowned World' and 'The Drought' wouldn't have been surprised by the sight of San Francisco wreathed in thick orange smog as much of California burned. The author of ‘The Intensive Care Unit’ would not have been surprised by a world in which people have to stay at home to avoid a pandemic and communicate solely through technology. Most obviously, the author of 'Kingdom Come' was condemned at the time for patronising the English working classes but his vision of a hollowed out consumerist society sliding into soft fascism is an entirely accurate description of where we are a decade after his death.
Although Ballard would have repudiated the term, his ability to interpret how technology would leave a post-traditional society increasingly deranged made him probably the great realist writer of my lifetime. That's why I often wonder how he would have responded to events over the course of the decade since his death. The author of 'The Drowned World' and 'The Drought' wouldn't have been surprised by the sight of San Francisco wreathed in thick orange smog as much of California burned. The author of ‘The Intensive Care Unit’ would not have been surprised by a world in which people have to stay at home to avoid a pandemic and communicate solely through technology. Most obviously, the author of 'Kingdom Come' was condemned at the time for patronising the English working classes but his vision of a hollowed out consumerist society sliding into soft fascism is an entirely accurate description of where we are a decade after his death.
May 19, 2018
49th book for 2018.
A remarkable collection of interviews spanning the entire breadth of Ballard's career from the late 1960s until his death in the late 2000s.
This book is a wonderful primer for complete opus of Ballard's books (without giving away spoilers to the books themselves). It's also a very humanizing. Maybe the most amazing thing I learnt was that Ballard was a working single father, who raised three young children, writing novels during the day between dropping off and picking up the kids from school. He states in multiple interviews his obsessive fear for his children while writing Crash, which he wrote in part out of catharsis in an attempt to come to terms with his wife's tragic death while the family was on holiday in Spain.
It's apparent that he was always an outsider, growing up as a privileged child of expats in 1930s Shanghai, being interned by the Japanese in 1942 (his final survival of the camps he credits to the dropping on the atomic bomb), arriving a war-ravaged England, for the first time in the late 1940s. Living in the outer suburbs of London both informed his writing and kept him an outsider from most of the other English writers who congregated to the cooler parts of central London.
Well worth reading for anyone interested in Ballard and his works.
5-stars.
A remarkable collection of interviews spanning the entire breadth of Ballard's career from the late 1960s until his death in the late 2000s.
This book is a wonderful primer for complete opus of Ballard's books (without giving away spoilers to the books themselves). It's also a very humanizing. Maybe the most amazing thing I learnt was that Ballard was a working single father, who raised three young children, writing novels during the day between dropping off and picking up the kids from school. He states in multiple interviews his obsessive fear for his children while writing Crash, which he wrote in part out of catharsis in an attempt to come to terms with his wife's tragic death while the family was on holiday in Spain.
It's apparent that he was always an outsider, growing up as a privileged child of expats in 1930s Shanghai, being interned by the Japanese in 1942 (his final survival of the camps he credits to the dropping on the atomic bomb), arriving a war-ravaged England, for the first time in the late 1940s. Living in the outer suburbs of London both informed his writing and kept him an outsider from most of the other English writers who congregated to the cooler parts of central London.
Well worth reading for anyone interested in Ballard and his works.
5-stars.
March 28, 2014
Yeah, this is really good.
Impeccably edited and collected set of interviews with Ballard including dialogues with the likes of Iain Sinclair, Jon Savage, David Cronenberg etc.
Reading this gave me a lot of fresh insight into Ballard's politics ... which seem to have drifted from right to left during his career, but certainly at times cut uncomfortably across accepted wisdom.
The content of the interviews is extremely lucid, and if these are off the cuff remarks they are often more articulate than others would be able to draft. Though at times the themes and ideas are slightly repetitious, the iteration of his concerns mainly serves to add depth and nuance.
Impeccably edited and collected set of interviews with Ballard including dialogues with the likes of Iain Sinclair, Jon Savage, David Cronenberg etc.
Reading this gave me a lot of fresh insight into Ballard's politics ... which seem to have drifted from right to left during his career, but certainly at times cut uncomfortably across accepted wisdom.
The content of the interviews is extremely lucid, and if these are off the cuff remarks they are often more articulate than others would be able to draft. Though at times the themes and ideas are slightly repetitious, the iteration of his concerns mainly serves to add depth and nuance.
January 19, 2015
Filled with a number of fascinating interviews and conversations, Ballard the person is just as interesting as Ballard the author. Even if you don't care for his works, Ballard remains one of the best interview subjects ever, and that makes this book utterly enjoyable
September 11, 2017
More enjoyable than a collection of interviews has any right to be. Ballard was an interesting guy, with an individual way of looking at the world. From these interviews, I learned that:
- According to the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, Ballard was an extrovert. He was a talkative person who liked telling jokes and could inject life into a dull party. He did not prefer reading to meeting people.
- In his 20s and 30s, Ballard wrote a ton of short stories (which I personally think are his best work) because back then there were so many science fiction magazines that it was easy to make a living off short stories. As he got older, he stopped writing so much short fiction and focused on novels, mainly because the market for short stories had died and it was so difficult to get them published.
- When he was a new writer, Ballard was extremely enthusiastic about the potential of science fiction to use images of the future to reflect on the present. From the 90s onwards, Ballard lost this enthusiasm, believing that science fiction was dying because it couldn't cope with the future it had imagined quickly becoming the present reality.
- 'The Atrocity Exhibition' is Ballard's most personal work: it came from him trying to make sense of his wife's sudden death.
- Ballard 'had a thing' for Margaret Thatcher, found her 'wonderfully attractive' until he grew too old for her. He agreed with her economic policies but found her social views abhorrent. Ballard grew more leftwing as he got older.
- Ballard didn't reread his own stuff: "I never read my own stuff, the mistakes come off the pages. Oh, God, all those infelicities of style. And one notices little stylistic tricks. Oh, God, no."
- Ballard hated the town of Kingston: "It's a ghastly place. I hate Kingston. It represents the absolute nadir of English consumer and suburban life."
- In 2003, he thought that politics was becoming less rational very quickly, and was worried where this might lead: "We can probably expect more wrong-headed political decisions as part of the breakdown of the rational. Dictators through the ages have appealed to the irrational, to mobilise populations. We're beginning to see apparently rational governments - the US, the UK - stepping into these very murky ponds. Worrying. But we'll see."
- Ballard LOVED old Hollywood thriller movies.
- He tried cannabis when his friends were doing it, and tried LSD once but had a trip so bad it took two years to recover from it. "A fertile imagination is better than any drug."
- After 'The Atrocity Exhibition' was published in the US, Ballard sent a copy to Ronald Reagan for a laugh. He never got a reply, of course.
- He thought the external media landscape made it feel like we were all living in a vast novel: "The external environment is now the greatest provider of fiction. We are living in an enormous novel, written by the external world, by the worlds of advertising, mass-merchandising, politics conducted as a branch of advertising, and so on and so forth."
- Ballard was really good at interviews, and gave so many of them.
I recommend this collection. It is really good.
- According to the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, Ballard was an extrovert. He was a talkative person who liked telling jokes and could inject life into a dull party. He did not prefer reading to meeting people.
- In his 20s and 30s, Ballard wrote a ton of short stories (which I personally think are his best work) because back then there were so many science fiction magazines that it was easy to make a living off short stories. As he got older, he stopped writing so much short fiction and focused on novels, mainly because the market for short stories had died and it was so difficult to get them published.
- When he was a new writer, Ballard was extremely enthusiastic about the potential of science fiction to use images of the future to reflect on the present. From the 90s onwards, Ballard lost this enthusiasm, believing that science fiction was dying because it couldn't cope with the future it had imagined quickly becoming the present reality.
- 'The Atrocity Exhibition' is Ballard's most personal work: it came from him trying to make sense of his wife's sudden death.
- Ballard 'had a thing' for Margaret Thatcher, found her 'wonderfully attractive' until he grew too old for her. He agreed with her economic policies but found her social views abhorrent. Ballard grew more leftwing as he got older.
- Ballard didn't reread his own stuff: "I never read my own stuff, the mistakes come off the pages. Oh, God, all those infelicities of style. And one notices little stylistic tricks. Oh, God, no."
- Ballard hated the town of Kingston: "It's a ghastly place. I hate Kingston. It represents the absolute nadir of English consumer and suburban life."
- In 2003, he thought that politics was becoming less rational very quickly, and was worried where this might lead: "We can probably expect more wrong-headed political decisions as part of the breakdown of the rational. Dictators through the ages have appealed to the irrational, to mobilise populations. We're beginning to see apparently rational governments - the US, the UK - stepping into these very murky ponds. Worrying. But we'll see."
- Ballard LOVED old Hollywood thriller movies.
- He tried cannabis when his friends were doing it, and tried LSD once but had a trip so bad it took two years to recover from it. "A fertile imagination is better than any drug."
- After 'The Atrocity Exhibition' was published in the US, Ballard sent a copy to Ronald Reagan for a laugh. He never got a reply, of course.
- He thought the external media landscape made it feel like we were all living in a vast novel: "The external environment is now the greatest provider of fiction. We are living in an enormous novel, written by the external world, by the worlds of advertising, mass-merchandising, politics conducted as a branch of advertising, and so on and so forth."
- Ballard was really good at interviews, and gave so many of them.
I recommend this collection. It is really good.
August 25, 2019
Forty years worth of conversation with a man who was as much a science fiction writers as he was horrifyingly foreseeing about this big blue spaceship we call our planet.
Ballard is extremely thorough and generous in his answers. He never has nothing to say about the conversation topics chosen by the interviewers and his thoughts are always razor sharp and informative. A few highlights:
- Saying the world would gradually phase out novels because our mass-mediatized reality is a fictional construction.
- Saying that everyone is going to call themselves "storytellers" in the future because it would a genuine part of their jobs.
- The inspiration anecdotes for his novel High-Rise that was 15 years in the making and that was based on several real incidents.
- The hilarious amount of explanation and justification he had to give for his novels The Atrocity Exhibition and Crash, which are two of his most iconic today.
The only major problem this collection suffer from is that he's getting asked the same questions over and over again in each interviews. They could've easily been edited out of it. I mean, how many times can he answer "what is science fiction for you?
It's great, though. If you love Ballard as much as I do, this is a must read
Ballard is extremely thorough and generous in his answers. He never has nothing to say about the conversation topics chosen by the interviewers and his thoughts are always razor sharp and informative. A few highlights:
- Saying the world would gradually phase out novels because our mass-mediatized reality is a fictional construction.
- Saying that everyone is going to call themselves "storytellers" in the future because it would a genuine part of their jobs.
- The inspiration anecdotes for his novel High-Rise that was 15 years in the making and that was based on several real incidents.
- The hilarious amount of explanation and justification he had to give for his novels The Atrocity Exhibition and Crash, which are two of his most iconic today.
The only major problem this collection suffer from is that he's getting asked the same questions over and over again in each interviews. They could've easily been edited out of it. I mean, how many times can he answer "what is science fiction for you?
It's great, though. If you love Ballard as much as I do, this is a must read
October 27, 2021
"I believe in the power of the imagination to remake the world, to release the truth within us, to hold back the night, to transcend death, to charm motorways, to ingratiate ourselves with birds, to enlist the confidences of madmen.
I believe in my own obsessions, in the beauty of the car crash, in the peace of the submerged forest, in the excitements of the deserted holiday beach, in the elegance of automobile graveyards, in the mystery of multi-storey car parks, in the poetry of abandoned hotels.
I believe in the forgotten runways of Wake Island, pointing towards the Pacifics of our imaginations.
I believe in the mysterious beauty of Margaret Thatcher, in the arch of her nostrils and the sheen on her lower lip; in the melancholy of wounded Argentine conscripts; in the haunted smiles of filling station personnel; in my dream of Margaret Thatcher caressed by that young Argentine soldier in a forgotten motel watched by a tubercular filling station attendant.
I believe in the beauty of all women, in the treachery of their imaginations, so close to my heart; in the junction of their disenchanted bodies with the enchanted chromium rails of supermarket counters; in their warm tolerance of my perversions.
I believe in the death of tomorrow, in the exhaustion of time, in our search for a new time within the smiles of auto-route waitresses and the tired eyes of air-traffic controllers at out-of-season airports.
I believe in the genital organs of great men and women, in the body postures of Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Princess Di, in the sweet odors emanating from their lips as they regard the cameras of the entire world.
I believe in madness, in the truth of the inexplicable, in the common sense of stones, in the lunacy of flowers, in the disease stored up for the human race by the Apollo astronauts.
I believe in nothing.
I believe in Max Ernst, Delvaux, Dali, Titian, Goya, Leonardo, Vermeer, Chirico, Magritte, Redon, Duerer, Tanguy, the Facteur Cheval, the Watts Towers, Boecklin, Francis Bacon, and all the invisible artists within the psychiatric institutions of the planet.
I believe in the impossibility of existence, in the humor of mountains, in the absurdity of electromagnetism, in the farce of geometry, in the cruelty of arithmetic, in the murderous intent of logic.
I believe in adolescent women, in their corruption by their own leg stances, in the purity of their disheveled bodies, in the traces of their pudenda left in the bathrooms of shabby motels.
I believe in flight, in the beauty of the wing, and in the beauty of everything that has ever flown, in the stone thrown by a small child that carries with it the wisdom of statesmen and midwives.
I believe in the gentleness of the surgeon’s knife, in the limitless geometry of the cinema screen, in the hidden universe within supermarkets, in the loneliness of the sun, in the garrulousness of planets, in the repetitiveness or ourselves, in the inexistence of the universe and the boredom of the atom.
I believe in the light cast by video-recorders in department store windows, in the messianic insights of the radiator grilles of showroom automobiles, in the elegance of the oil stains on the engine nacelles of 747s parked on airport tarmacs.
I believe in the non-existence of the past, in the death of the future, and the infinite possibilities of the present.
I believe in the derangement of the senses: in Rimbaud, William Burroughs, Huysmans, Genet, Celine, Swift, Defoe, Carroll, Coleridge, Kafka.
I believe in the designers of the Pyramids, the Empire State Building, the Berlin Fuehrerbunker, the Wake Island runways.
I believe in the body odors of Princess Di.
I believe in the next five minutes.
I believe in the history of my feet.
I believe in migraines, the boredom of afternoons, the fear of calendars, the treachery of clocks.
I believe in anxiety, psychosis and despair.
I believe in the perversions, in the infatuations with trees, princesses, prime ministers, derelict filling stations (more beautiful than the Taj Mahal), clouds and birds.
I believe in the death of the emotions and the triumph of the imagination.
I believe in Tokyo, Benidorm, La Grande Motte, Wake Island, Eniwetok, Dealey Plaza.
I believe in alcoholism, venereal disease, fever and exhaustion. I believe in pain. I believe in despair. I believe in all children.
I believe in maps, diagrams, codes, chess-games, puzzles, airline timetables, airport indicator signs. I believe all excuses.
I believe all reasons.
I believe all hallucinations.
I believe all anger.
I believe all mythologies, memories, lies, fantasies, evasions.
I believe in the mystery and melancholy of a hand, in the kindness of trees, in the wisdom of light.”
('What I Believe' - JG Ballard, 1984)
I believe in my own obsessions, in the beauty of the car crash, in the peace of the submerged forest, in the excitements of the deserted holiday beach, in the elegance of automobile graveyards, in the mystery of multi-storey car parks, in the poetry of abandoned hotels.
I believe in the forgotten runways of Wake Island, pointing towards the Pacifics of our imaginations.
I believe in the mysterious beauty of Margaret Thatcher, in the arch of her nostrils and the sheen on her lower lip; in the melancholy of wounded Argentine conscripts; in the haunted smiles of filling station personnel; in my dream of Margaret Thatcher caressed by that young Argentine soldier in a forgotten motel watched by a tubercular filling station attendant.
I believe in the beauty of all women, in the treachery of their imaginations, so close to my heart; in the junction of their disenchanted bodies with the enchanted chromium rails of supermarket counters; in their warm tolerance of my perversions.
I believe in the death of tomorrow, in the exhaustion of time, in our search for a new time within the smiles of auto-route waitresses and the tired eyes of air-traffic controllers at out-of-season airports.
I believe in the genital organs of great men and women, in the body postures of Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Princess Di, in the sweet odors emanating from their lips as they regard the cameras of the entire world.
I believe in madness, in the truth of the inexplicable, in the common sense of stones, in the lunacy of flowers, in the disease stored up for the human race by the Apollo astronauts.
I believe in nothing.
I believe in Max Ernst, Delvaux, Dali, Titian, Goya, Leonardo, Vermeer, Chirico, Magritte, Redon, Duerer, Tanguy, the Facteur Cheval, the Watts Towers, Boecklin, Francis Bacon, and all the invisible artists within the psychiatric institutions of the planet.
I believe in the impossibility of existence, in the humor of mountains, in the absurdity of electromagnetism, in the farce of geometry, in the cruelty of arithmetic, in the murderous intent of logic.
I believe in adolescent women, in their corruption by their own leg stances, in the purity of their disheveled bodies, in the traces of their pudenda left in the bathrooms of shabby motels.
I believe in flight, in the beauty of the wing, and in the beauty of everything that has ever flown, in the stone thrown by a small child that carries with it the wisdom of statesmen and midwives.
I believe in the gentleness of the surgeon’s knife, in the limitless geometry of the cinema screen, in the hidden universe within supermarkets, in the loneliness of the sun, in the garrulousness of planets, in the repetitiveness or ourselves, in the inexistence of the universe and the boredom of the atom.
I believe in the light cast by video-recorders in department store windows, in the messianic insights of the radiator grilles of showroom automobiles, in the elegance of the oil stains on the engine nacelles of 747s parked on airport tarmacs.
I believe in the non-existence of the past, in the death of the future, and the infinite possibilities of the present.
I believe in the derangement of the senses: in Rimbaud, William Burroughs, Huysmans, Genet, Celine, Swift, Defoe, Carroll, Coleridge, Kafka.
I believe in the designers of the Pyramids, the Empire State Building, the Berlin Fuehrerbunker, the Wake Island runways.
I believe in the body odors of Princess Di.
I believe in the next five minutes.
I believe in the history of my feet.
I believe in migraines, the boredom of afternoons, the fear of calendars, the treachery of clocks.
I believe in anxiety, psychosis and despair.
I believe in the perversions, in the infatuations with trees, princesses, prime ministers, derelict filling stations (more beautiful than the Taj Mahal), clouds and birds.
I believe in the death of the emotions and the triumph of the imagination.
I believe in Tokyo, Benidorm, La Grande Motte, Wake Island, Eniwetok, Dealey Plaza.
I believe in alcoholism, venereal disease, fever and exhaustion. I believe in pain. I believe in despair. I believe in all children.
I believe in maps, diagrams, codes, chess-games, puzzles, airline timetables, airport indicator signs. I believe all excuses.
I believe all reasons.
I believe all hallucinations.
I believe all anger.
I believe all mythologies, memories, lies, fantasies, evasions.
I believe in the mystery and melancholy of a hand, in the kindness of trees, in the wisdom of light.”
('What I Believe' - JG Ballard, 1984)
August 13, 2014
Sci-Fi fans are always talking about how predictive their favorite authors' stories are. Every now and then, someone's sending me a link to an article about how accurate the fictions of Asimov, Dick, Heinlein and even Roddenberry ended up being, in retro.
Well, Ballard's stories weren't known for being such; not in his science fiction cycle, not in his seemingly dystopic phase (a categorization Ballard resented), nor in his pseudo-biographies. But Ballard knew the future: he was intimately acquainted with it and I think it came from the fact that he was so well grounded in the present.
These interviews are revealing not only of Ballard's dispassionate view of the ever-changing present over 40 years, but how accurately he could see the direction society was moving toward. Oddly enough, none of what he saw frightened him. Reading these interviews was like seeing things through the eyes of his characters for the very first time. These protagonists were all very much Ballard at heart.
I've read quite a bit of Ballard of late, but this collection of interviews has put me in the mood to read everything of his.
Well, Ballard's stories weren't known for being such; not in his science fiction cycle, not in his seemingly dystopic phase (a categorization Ballard resented), nor in his pseudo-biographies. But Ballard knew the future: he was intimately acquainted with it and I think it came from the fact that he was so well grounded in the present.
These interviews are revealing not only of Ballard's dispassionate view of the ever-changing present over 40 years, but how accurately he could see the direction society was moving toward. Oddly enough, none of what he saw frightened him. Reading these interviews was like seeing things through the eyes of his characters for the very first time. These protagonists were all very much Ballard at heart.
I've read quite a bit of Ballard of late, but this collection of interviews has put me in the mood to read everything of his.
October 12, 2024
Unbelievably prescient and really telling of his obsessions, thought processes and literary intentions. Inspiring and full of great threads to tug on for your own work.
May 27, 2023
There are few literary experiences quite as delightfully perplexing and intellectually stimulating as diving into the vibrant mind of J.G. Ballard. "Extreme Metaphors," a compilation of Ballard's most enlightening interviews, is no exception. This collection offers a profound look into the creative psyche of one of the most innovative writers of the 20th century. It's an absolute gem, and I'm thrilled to award it five stars.
One of the primary joys of "Extreme Metaphors" lies in its ability to humanize a figure who so often seemed larger than life due to the sheer force and vision of his work. The conversations presented in this volume offer a candid view of Ballard, revealing a man as witty, insightful, and at times as confounding, as his fiction suggests.
Each interview becomes a journey into the heart of Ballard's writing, exploring his interests in dystopian futures, urban decay, and the darker corners of the human psyche. These dialogues reveal his thoughts on topics ranging from his own works to wider cultural, social, and political issues. The reflections on his seminal works such as "Crash" and "Empire of the Sun" are particularly illuminating for any Ballard enthusiast.
Ballard's unique perspective on the world comes through clearly in these interviews. His ability to see the extraordinary in the mundane and his tendency to challenge societal norms are reflected in his responses. His intelligence and depth of thought are readily apparent and it's a joy to gain insight into the world through his perspective.
Another striking feature of "Extreme Metaphors" is the clarity and directness of Ballard's voice. Even when discussing complex ideas, Ballard remains accessible and engaging. His lucid style combined with his intellectual curiosity makes each conversation a captivating read.
What makes this collection a five-star read, however, is not just the insights it offers into Ballard and his works, but the way it provokes thought and ignites the reader's imagination. Just as his novels and short stories do, Ballard's interviews challenge our perceptions and prompt us to question the world around us.
In conclusion, "Extreme Metaphors" is an essential read not just for Ballard fans but for anyone interested in the creative process, the evolution of modern literature, and the capacity of the human imagination. It is a testament to Ballard's lasting impact on the literary world and an outstanding tribute to his legacy.
One of the primary joys of "Extreme Metaphors" lies in its ability to humanize a figure who so often seemed larger than life due to the sheer force and vision of his work. The conversations presented in this volume offer a candid view of Ballard, revealing a man as witty, insightful, and at times as confounding, as his fiction suggests.
Each interview becomes a journey into the heart of Ballard's writing, exploring his interests in dystopian futures, urban decay, and the darker corners of the human psyche. These dialogues reveal his thoughts on topics ranging from his own works to wider cultural, social, and political issues. The reflections on his seminal works such as "Crash" and "Empire of the Sun" are particularly illuminating for any Ballard enthusiast.
Ballard's unique perspective on the world comes through clearly in these interviews. His ability to see the extraordinary in the mundane and his tendency to challenge societal norms are reflected in his responses. His intelligence and depth of thought are readily apparent and it's a joy to gain insight into the world through his perspective.
Another striking feature of "Extreme Metaphors" is the clarity and directness of Ballard's voice. Even when discussing complex ideas, Ballard remains accessible and engaging. His lucid style combined with his intellectual curiosity makes each conversation a captivating read.
What makes this collection a five-star read, however, is not just the insights it offers into Ballard and his works, but the way it provokes thought and ignites the reader's imagination. Just as his novels and short stories do, Ballard's interviews challenge our perceptions and prompt us to question the world around us.
In conclusion, "Extreme Metaphors" is an essential read not just for Ballard fans but for anyone interested in the creative process, the evolution of modern literature, and the capacity of the human imagination. It is a testament to Ballard's lasting impact on the literary world and an outstanding tribute to his legacy.
May 12, 2015
Ballard's obsessions, prescience, and originality shine through in every interview from this massive and career-spanning collection of conversations. It's deep and thoughtful stuff, best savored in chunks rather than all at once, but the book is an indispensable addition to the collection of any fan of SF, cultural studies, and--of course--the inimitable Ballard himself.
May 27, 2013
Reveals Ballard to not only be the most important novelists of the late 20th century, but also one of its most important thinkers. Every interview is a delight.
August 23, 2015
Essential.
August 5, 2022
Buckle up your brain before entering this book, a bumpy ride is guaranteed. Whereas Superman had x-ray vision, Ballard had future vision.
Here's what concerned him in 1974!
He saw suburbia as the future, tedium our lot, public television as wallpaper. He predicted the atomization of society with everyone creating their own TV studio from home (YouTube). He saw the Soviet Union and other socialist experiments as a giant sadomasochistic experiment.
SF was pointlessly chasing stars and galaxies he thought, whereas the real exploration was between the ears: imagination being the most potent drug. Despite the repetitions, he gives the reader a lot to think about.
Here's what concerned him in 1974!
...where bank balances will be constantly monitored and at almost any given time all the information that exists about ourselves will be on file somewhere – where all sorts of agencies, commercial, political and governmental, will have access to that information.
He saw suburbia as the future, tedium our lot, public television as wallpaper. He predicted the atomization of society with everyone creating their own TV studio from home (YouTube). He saw the Soviet Union and other socialist experiments as a giant sadomasochistic experiment.
SF was pointlessly chasing stars and galaxies he thought, whereas the real exploration was between the ears: imagination being the most potent drug. Despite the repetitions, he gives the reader a lot to think about.
July 13, 2021
An amazing book, one of the best I've ever read, and I think it transcends Ballard's fiction, which is saying something because he is possibly my favorite fiction writer. Some artists do their greatest work in their interviews; I would also consider Werner Herzog and John Waters to be a part of this category.
May 13, 2023
Very revealing, and not in a good way - because it appears that beyond the facade of this imaginative writer there was... not much, and not of great quality, either. Lots of buzzwords, plenty of repetition, a number of wildly inaccurate and plainly wrong statements... I imagine the Scotch helped the interviewers to swallow all that. And to think I used to adore Ballard's writing...
November 13, 2017
Massively quotable, and good fun. A bit repetitive - not unlike Ballard's fiction.
September 3, 2018
Really interesting stuff. J G Ballard speaks with an approachable and engaging voice.
Read some of his fiction first though, without that reading these wouldn't be as interesting!
Read some of his fiction first though, without that reading these wouldn't be as interesting!
July 14, 2021
Ballard’s prescience continues to be uncanny.
February 28, 2023
Hands down one of the most brilliant writers and thinkers I’ve come across in many years. He nails the coming of the Information Age, the Internet and AI.
February 20, 2018
Ovviamente a volte ripetitivo, allo stesso tempo mostra la cavalcata di Ballard verso la realizzazione nella società occidentale delle sue ossessioni.
Per alcuni, magari proprio scrittori e aspiranti, dovrebbe essere vangelo.
Nessuno, tra gli speculative writers, dovrebbe scrivere e provare a scrivere senza almeno un paio di metafore estreme.
Per alcuni, magari proprio scrittori e aspiranti, dovrebbe essere vangelo.
Nessuno, tra gli speculative writers, dovrebbe scrivere e provare a scrivere senza almeno un paio di metafore estreme.
April 29, 2021
An excellent deep-dive into the thinking of one of the truly great British imaginative fiction writers of the 20th Century. Sharpening his early chops with some of the best short story writing you'll ever read, Ballard went on to build out a series of themes that he would repeatedly reshuffle and redeal through his novels like the most (un)canny of literary card-sharps. Through a series of interviews undertaken over many years, "Extreme Metaphors' leads us along the fourth dimension of Ballard's developing considerations on literature, society and his grim optimism for future of the human condition. Highly recommended.
May 13, 2013
Ballard was as close to an actual genius as we're likely to get in the same body as a writer with a 50 year publishing career. If anything his interviews are more interesting than his novels and stories.
December 7, 2014
Essential insight into the mind of an essential writer. The interviews dealing with The Atrocity Exhibition are particularly fascinating.
February 12, 2020
Not for everyone, obviously, but it's a fascinating look into the mind of an amazingly talented writer.
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