Miracles Of Life: An Autobiography Shanghai to Shepperton - Hardcover

Ballard, J.G.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0753195240 ISBN 13: 9780753195246

Publisher: ISIS Large Print Books, 2009

Synopsis

J. G. Ballard was, for over fifty years, one of this country's most significant writers. Beginning with the events that inspired his classic novel, ‘Empire of the Sun’, this revelatory autobiography charts the course of his astonishing life.

‘Miracles of Life’ takes us from the vibrant surroundings of pre-war Shanghai, to the deprivations and unexpected freedoms of Lunghua Camp, to Ballard’s arrival in a devastated Britain. Ballard recounts his first attempts at fiction and his part in the social and artistic revolutions of the 60s. He describes his friendships with figures as diverse as Kingsley Amis, Michael Moorcock and Eduardo Paolozzi alongside recollections of his domestic life in Shepperton – raising three children as a single father following the unexpected and premature death of his wife.

‘Miracles of Life’ is both a captivating narrative of the experiences that have shaped this extraordinary writer’s works, his distinctive outlook and his original visions of the future, and is also an account of a remarkable life.

This edition is part of a new commemorative series of Ballard’s works, featuring introductions from a number of his admirers (including Ali Smith, Hari Kunzru, Neil Gaiman and Martin Amis) and brand-new cover designs.

About this title

Review:

'He writes so well on the "surrealism of everyday life".'

From the Back Cover:

'I was born in Shanghai General Hospital on 15 November 1930, after a difficult delivery that my mother, who was slightly built and slim-hipped, liked to describe to me in later years, as if this revealed something about the larger thoughtlessness of the world'

For almost half a century, J G Ballard has been one of the country's most important writers. In this revelatory autobiography, bookended by time spent in Shanghai - the city of his childhood and internment in a WWII prison camp, and setting of his novel Empire of the Sun - he charts the course of his remarkable life.

Beginning with his early childhood spent exploring the vibrant surroundings of 'that magical place', Miracles of Life takes us from the deprivations and unexpected freedoms of Lunghua Camp to his arrival in a Britain physically and psychologically crippled by war. He recounts his first attempts at fiction while stationed in a frozen airbase in Canada, his part in the social and artistic revolutions of the 60s and his lfe as a single father after the premature death of his wife.

In prose of characteristic precision and wit, Ballard recalls the experiences that would fundamentally shape his writing, while simultaneously providing a striking analysis of the fragmented post-war Britain that lies behind so many of his novels. Miracles of Life is a captivating account of the extraordinary life of an extraordinary writer.

About this edition

• Publisher: ISIS Large Print Books
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0753195240
• ISBN 13: 9780753195246
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256