(Popular corruption-gloss)
“The prospect of being hanged focuses the mind wonderfully.”

THE TRUE QUOTE:
‘This is another popular corruption of a famous line of Johnson’s. What Johnson really
said, according to Boswell, was:

“Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.”

‘A little clunkier in its original form, even when you drop the first sentence, which is probably why the simpler, corrupted form is more frequently seen.’ (found on http://www.samueljohnson.com/apocryph.html#13 )

Remember, JGB’s MIND is obviously sounder than ever, it’s his BODY that’s letting him down! I feel like a family member is dying – no, worse, my finest intellectual mentor in
ALL modern literature and the insidious intellectual grotesqueness of consumerism and
“Edge City” globalized clone-humanscape-growth for 40 years of my own life is leaving us… But as The Oracle said: (my gloss) “Life is a sort of stage-set, which can be
whisked away and changed completely, instantly.” Possibly, his BEST observations are
yet to come…. (courtesy of Mike Bonsall’s and Simon’s Sellars’ TERRIFICALLY difficult
and CONSTANT work in bringing them to us!) THANK YOU ALL!

My own electronic video tributes to JGB can be seen in my crude melding of his
CRASH-inspired themes (the phallic jetliner loaded with celebrities) with his career as
a pilot (I am also licensed to fly small planes) at:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Crashman2

It is a poor tribute, but all I have to give BACK. (I also confess to a fascination with
medical – school dissecting rooms, I have toured 3 different ones with medical-student
friends). JGB, you will be MUCH more appreciated in the FUTURE!

Yes, you HAVE a future, Mr. James G. Ballard – and it will NEVER die! In fact, it
becomes more relevant and prophetic moment by moment. Great writers (like painters)
are rarely appreciated in their own lifetimes – but JGB’s WILL come to be seen as THE
socio-pathological essence of our own times captured in fine literature, by subsequent
generations. Now if only we in the USA would actually read a BOOK (i.e. REAL
Literature, capital L) now and then…. Ah, well…..