Awards

• Short-listed for Galaxy British Book Awards: Tesco Biography of the Year 2009
• Shortlisted for Galaxy British Book Awards: Tesco Biography of the Year 2009.

Overview

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9780007272341

Table of Contents

Reviews

'In some cases rave reviews can be wholly sincere. Mr. Ballard, you are wonderful.' Sunday Times 'The origins of this extraordinary and wonderful writer are now set out in this pellucid, forgiving, tranquil autobiography...this is a remarkable autobiography, treating events which most of us can barely imagine with tranquil dignity and exactness...an unforgettable farewell.' Spectator 'Brilliant and mesmerising...this wonderful, clear-sighted autobiography...has a wisdom and depth that makes you long to hug the author and say ' Thank you and wish him well.' Daily Mail 'What this brief, modest and occasionally shattering book only glances at is the extraordinary body of work that has flowed from this remarkable life...fascinating... Miracles of Life also tells quite another story, unconscious and inadvertent, but finally brave in a way that elevates it to a level of greatness.' Observer 'Exquisitely written... Miracles of Life , a subtle, restlessly enquiring work of touching humanity, is Ballard's crowning achievement.' Financial Times 'A jewel...as a writer, he can simply take the breath away.' Independent 'Written in characteristic spare direct prose!if this is to be his final book, it is a worthy one, both as the story of a remarkable life and of an outsider trying to make sense of postwar Britain.' The Times 'It's like listening to a deliciously worldly raconteur late at night as the level of the spirits bottle gradually drops; only the spare, unostentatious elegance and bite of the prose make you sit up with a start from time to time and remember that these pungent anecdotes are bing told by a leading novelist.' Sunday Times 'A modest account of an unusual and intensely lived life...there is a peculiar beauty to the work produced during a final illness.' Sunday Telegraph 'J.G. Ballard's memoir may be short but it is long on compassion, humour and insight...it is infused with a tremendous generosity of spirit.' Tatler 'A particular delight of this lyrical autobiography lies in spotting the landscapes and events that appear subtly reconfigured, in Ballard's fiction.' Observer 'The long-awaited memoirs of one of the most interesting British writers.' Sunday Times 'His prose has clarity and concision. He is mordant and brutally direct...unexpected and funny...fascinating stuff...the overwhelming impression gained is of the man's great generosity.' GQ Praise for J.G.Ballard: 'There are those (and I am among them) who would back Ballard as Britain's number one living novelist' John Sutherland, Sunday Times 'One of the brightest stars in post-war fiction' Kingsley Amis

'In some cases rave reviews can be wholly sincere. Mr. Ballard, you are wonderful.' Sunday Times 'The origins of this extraordinary and wonderful writer are now set out in this pellucid, forgiving, tranquil autobiography!this is a remarkable autobiography, treating events which most of us can barely imagine with tranquil dignity and exactness!an unforgettable farewell.' Spectator 'Brilliant and mesmerising!this wonderful, clear-sighted autobiography!has a wisdom and depth that makes you long to hug the author and say ' Thank you and wish him well.' Daily Mail 'What this brief, modest and occasionally shattering book only glances at is the extraordinary body of work that has flowed from this remarkable life!fascinating!. Miracles of Life also tells quite another story, unconscious and inadvertent, but finally brave in a way that elevates it to a level of greatness.' Observer 'Exquisitely written! Miracles of Life , a subtle, restlessly enquiring work of touching humanity, is Ballard's crowning achievement.' Financial Times 'A jewel!as a writer, he can simply take the breath away.' Independent 'Written in characteristic spare direct prose!if this is to be his final book, it is a worthy one, both as the story of a remarkable life and of an outsider trying to make sense of postwar Britain.' The Times

Author Information

J. G. Ballard was born in 1930 in Shanghai. After internment in a civilian prison camp, his family returned to England in 1946. His 1984 bestseller ‘Empire of the Sun’ won the Guardian Fiction Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. His controversial novel ‘Crash’ was made into a film by David Cronenberg. His autobiography ‘Miracles of Life’ was published in 2008, and a collection of interviews with the author, ‘Extreme Metaphors’, was published in 2012. J. G. Ballard passed away in 2009.

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