Comments on: Empire of the Sun: First Draft http://www.ballardian.com/empire-of-the-sun-first-draft Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:27:45 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Simon Sellars http://www.ballardian.com/empire-of-the-sun-first-draft/comment-page-1#comment-2001 Simon Sellars Sun, 15 Jun 2008 15:31:21 +0000 http://www.ballardian.com/empire-of-the-sun-first-draft#comment-2001 Carole, at least your spam is informative. Thanks. Carole, at least your spam is informative. Thanks.

]]> By: Carole Rule http://www.ballardian.com/empire-of-the-sun-first-draft/comment-page-1#comment-2002 Carole Rule Tue, 10 Jun 2008 18:55:05 +0000 http://www.ballardian.com/empire-of-the-sun-first-draft#comment-2002 It is easy to see why Ballard prefers to hand write his first draft. His mind is working so fast even with a pen he cannot stop long enough to raise it between words. The smallness of the lettering shows his deep concentration and focus while the threading of the letters makes it hard to read even for himself. To deal with a word processor or computer that wants to auto correct spelling and grammer would frustrate him no end. It is easy to see why Ballard prefers to hand write his first draft. His mind is working so fast even with a pen he cannot stop long enough to raise it between words. The smallness of the lettering shows his deep concentration and focus while the threading of the letters makes it hard to read even for himself. To deal with a word processor or computer that wants to auto correct spelling and grammer would frustrate him no end.

]]> By: Simon Sellars http://www.ballardian.com/empire-of-the-sun-first-draft/comment-page-1#comment-2003 Simon Sellars Tue, 10 Jun 2008 03:47:35 +0000 http://www.ballardian.com/empire-of-the-sun-first-draft#comment-2003 Hi Thomas, Great to hear from you. I reckon you were the perfect Ballardian interviewer, for the way you assembled it all is not a million miles away from the manner in which Ballard fashioned The Atrocity Exhibition. Also, JGB as far as I know hasn't been to Africa, yet still managed to pull together The Day of Creation. In light of your admission about never being to Shepperton, this line is very funny indeed: "After an hour or so of talk, Teacher's scotch and sodas are served, and Ballard discourses briefly on the virtues of Shepperton water (several low-lying reservoirs are nearby)." That's a most creative way to work in Shepperton's marine qualities! Anyway, it's a great interview and it seems you caught JGB in an expansive mood. Your opening question is a gem: "Are you ready to risk the fate of the centipede, who, when asked exactly how he crawled, shot himself?" What are you up to these days? Hi Thomas,

Great to hear from you. I reckon you were the perfect Ballardian interviewer, for the way you assembled it all is not a million miles away from the manner in which Ballard fashioned The Atrocity Exhibition. Also, JGB as far as I know hasn’t been to Africa, yet still managed to pull together The Day of Creation. In light of your admission about never being to Shepperton, this line is very funny indeed: “After an hour or so of talk, Teacher’s scotch and sodas are served, and Ballard discourses briefly on the virtues of Shepperton water (several low-lying reservoirs are nearby).”

That’s a most creative way to work in Shepperton’s marine qualities!

Anyway, it’s a great interview and it seems you caught JGB in an expansive mood. Your opening question is a gem: “Are you ready to risk the fate of the centipede, who, when asked exactly how he crawled, shot himself?”

What are you up to these days?

]]> By: Thomas Frick http://www.ballardian.com/empire-of-the-sun-first-draft/comment-page-1#comment-2000 Thomas Frick Sun, 08 Jun 2008 13:02:38 +0000 http://www.ballardian.com/empire-of-the-sun-first-draft#comment-2000 Dear Simon, I was glad to see my Paris Review interview on your excellent site. As David Pringle notes, it was constructed from correspondence to sound like an in-person interview in the style of the magazine. In part this was because I couldn't afford a trip to England (I was working part-time in a bookshop) and in part it simply seemed like fun. Paris Review never knew of the subterfuge, and Ballard himself thought my cobbled-together description of his surroundings was a bit uncanny. I recall a summer at my girlfriend's breezy apartment, when I cut up xeroxed copies of a sheaf of letters and arranged the snippets on a bulletin board with added questions to sound like a "real" interview. The breeze constantly threated to blow them into a heap, and my girlfriend's cat loved to jump up and pull them down. So there's probably a bit of randomness lurking in the text. Best regards, Tom Frick Dear Simon,

I was glad to see my Paris Review interview on your excellent site. As David Pringle notes, it was constructed from correspondence to sound like an in-person interview in the style of the magazine. In part this was because I couldn’t afford a trip to England (I was working part-time in a bookshop) and in part it simply seemed like fun. Paris Review never knew of the subterfuge, and Ballard himself thought my cobbled-together description of his surroundings was a bit uncanny.

I recall a summer at my girlfriend’s breezy apartment, when I cut up xeroxed copies of a sheaf of letters and arranged the snippets on a bulletin board with added questions to sound like a “real” interview. The breeze constantly threated to blow them into a heap, and my girlfriend’s cat loved to jump up and pull them down. So there’s probably a bit of randomness lurking in the text.

Best regards,

Tom Frick

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