On J.G. Ballard

<p>J.G. Ballard’s life and work contains many incongruities, outraging the <em>Daily Mail </em>and being offered a CBE (which he rejected), and variously appealing to both Spielberg and Cronenberg. In a recent piece, Edmund Gordon unpicks the contradictions and contrarianism in Ballard’s non-fiction writing, and he joins Tom to continue the dissection. They explore Ballard’s strange combination of ‘whisky and soda’ conservatism and the avant-garde, what he was trying to achieve through his fiction, and how ‘Ballardian’ <em>Empire of the Sun</em> really is.</p><br><p>Sponsored links:</p><p>Find out more about Pace Gallery London’s Kiki Kogelnik exhibition here: <a href="https://www.pacegallery.com/exhibitions/kiki-kogelnik-the-dance/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.pacegallery.com/exhibitions/kiki-kogelnik-the-dance/</a></p><p>Learn more about Serious Readers: <a href="www.seriousreaders.com/lrb" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">www.seriousreaders.com/lrb</a></p><br><p>Sign up to the LRB's Close Readings subscription:</p><p>In Apple Podcasts: <a href="https://apple.co/3pJoFPq" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://apple.co/3pJoFPq</a></p><p>In other podcast apps: <a href="https://lrb.me/closereadings" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">lrb.me/closereadings</a></p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

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