JG Ballard Autobiography: “Miracles Of Life”
From The Bookseller, via the JGB Mailing List:
Fourth Estate editorial director Clare Reihill has acquired J G Ballard’s autobiography Miracles of Life from agent Maggie Hanbury. Reihill bought British and Commonwealth rights in the memoir, due in February next year.
Ballard, most famous for Crash and the autobiographical novel, Empire of the Sun, grew up in Shanghai and returned to Britain just after the Second World War. The book will detail his observations about post-war Britain, as well as his life as a single father after his wife died in her 30s, and his experience as a writer.
“J G Ballard has been a giant on the literary landscape for the last 40 years,” Reihill said, “and his long-awaited autobiography will be an exceptionally important and momentous publishing event. For fans of this work it will be a very insightful read. He has narrated his life exceptionally well, showing how events in his life have influenced his work.”
Fourth Estate is also re-issuing five of Ballard’s backlist in February next year: Millennium People; The Crystal World; The Drought; The Drowned World; and The Unlimited Dream Company. They will be promoted alongside the autobiography.
As many people on the JGB list have pointed out, this will probably be a memoir rather than a full blown autobiography, focussing on Ballard’s post-war return to the UK. Mind you, there are no guarantees about what the final content of the book might look like - this press release could be emphasising certain details and ignoring others.
I’ll be first in line to buy this when it comes out - but my enthusiasm is tempered by the fact JGB has been in bad health for the last couple of years and the writing of this book might well be his own fully conscious move towards setting things in order before his death.
Miracles Of Life is already available for pre-order at Amazon.co.uk
More JGB at jgballard.com and Ballardian.com
Other Splinters posts of interest:
- Miracles Do Happen Finally, the new Spike updat…
- JG Ballard live Q&A – Post your questions now
- Ballard Books
- J G Ballard on the South Bank Show
- JG Ballard discusses Super-Cannes The first int…
Make A Comment: ( 3 so far )
3 Responses to “JG Ballard Autobiography: “Miracles Of Life””
Tim Footman
September 12th, 2007
Ha! Well said, Tim… For a slightly different kind of JGB memoir, check out my two-year quest to track down the main geographic elements of Empire, culminating with a September 18, 2007 (an auspicious date) visit to the still-standing Ballard mansion at 31A Amherst Avenue in Shanghai.
Rick McGrath
September 29th, 2007
“his own fully conscious move towards setting things in order before his death”
You mean he’s not going to drive a Jaguar head-on into an airport bus with a webcam trained on his swelling crotch?