Strange Fiction
Author: Simon Sellars • Jun 15th, 2008 •Category: Ballardosphere, Iain Sinclair, William Burroughs, consumerism, fascism, sport
Photograph: Eamonn McCabe.
There’s a new interview with JGB in the Guardian, conducted by James Campbell. It’s short, it lazily rehashes the same old stuff about Ballard’s house and (perhaps as a result) it is filled out with asides from M. John Harrison, Iain Sinclair and others.
James Graham Ballard is a large man with mischief in his eye and the social manner of a retired civil servant. At 77, he is portly, with grey hair curling on to his shirt collar. He has a full-on way with a good chablis - “More! More!” - but is considerate enough to inquire of his guest: “Do you have a motor car out there? We don’t want you to be killed.”
Ballard encountered Burroughs, whom he greatly admires as a writer, on a number of occasions. “A very strange chap.” Sinclair feels that “the two men, respectful and appreciative, never quite understood each other when they met. Both were set so deep in their visions. Other figures are aliens or rivals.”
He explains that his most recent novel, Kingdom Come (2006), “posed the question: could consumerism turn into fascism? The underlying psychologies aren’t all that far removed from one another. If you go into a huge shopping mall and you’re looking down the parade, it’s the same theatrical aspect: these disciplined ranks of merchandise, all glittering like fascist uniforms. When you enter a mall, you are taking part in a ceremony of affirmation, which you endorse just by your presence.” Consumerism “has to a large extent replaced art and culture in this country. The principal entertainment industry nowadays is soccer which, with its marching supporters’ groups, is not that far removed from fascism.”
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The good folks at The Guardian, bless them, never did get to grips with Ballard and his work; he doesn’t tick any of their boxes.
Isn’t Ian McEwan their idea of a dangerous writer? Ballard, like Burroughs, represents the complete antithesis to the literary liberals.
I buy the Guardian every saturday (pretty much only for the TV guide) so I was pleasantly surprised to see JGB was the centrefold in the ‘arts’ section.
I doubt any visitor to this site will learn anything about Ballard from the guardian, Anthony. Having said that, I did learn two things: I didn’t know JGB had a Delvaux in his living room as well as his back room; and I didn’t know he drove a Ford Granada!
Yes, I’m a Guardian reader myself … there’s the (roughly speaking)Guardian part of my brain and the Ballardian (Ballardian/Burroughsian/Joycean etc.) part and rarely shall the twain meet.