Book Review: JG Ballard (Modern Masters of Science Fiction) by D. Harlan Wilson

 

JG Ballard (Modern Masters of Science Fiction) by D. Harlan Wilson

214 pages, Paperback

First published November, 2017

University of Illinois Press. 

This modern masters series of Science Fiction series is going to take over my shelves. Starting with my favorite John Brunner and recently releasing a Brian Aldiss book, these are important studies.  They come in editions you can buy in hardcover or paperback. I only have two volumes so far the John Brunner one is the only other I have read so far. Of the two British writers, Brunner is more my jam and for that reason, I was a little more excited by the details and biographical stuff.

His nature as a more famous writer who wrote a few autobiographies novels I knew more about Ballard going in. That said the biographical notes in this book are good but Professor Wilson really does a wonderful job of breaking the man’s entire career. More importantly in this book are the wonderful and thoughtful interviews that are pulled throughout his career and deftly placed in the right spots.

This is the second DHW non-fiction book on a famous SF writer, although the other was seen entirely through the lens of The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester. (See my Dickheads podcast Interview with DHW on that one). This is different as it is career-spanning, and in a sense, it makes it different from the past JG Ballard academic texts as most were written while he was still alive or working.

You can see the respect this book has gotten on the paperback it comes with blurbs from other Ballardian scholars. This book is great and the real deal. One thing I liked about this book was that Wilson is never afraid to have an opinion.  That is why it is so important that he wrote this book. An important throughline in this book is the science-fiction nature of all of Ballard’s books. In the wrong hands, this book would not have called bullshit on Ballard’s protest that he was not SF.
For those interested in the history or canon of Science Fiction this is a must-read.