Novel

Earlier today, the world lost one of the greatest science fiction authors to ever write in the English language. J.G. Ballard concluded his battle with prostate cancer at the age of 79.

Ballard's prose is marked by a tight, focused humanity often surrounded by inhumane technology. He was a master of the dystopian vision and a bold pioneer into the potential depths of subtlety and emotion in speculative fiction. Whereas many of his contemporaries attempted to grasp the wonder inspired by the exponential growth of technology in the 20th century, Ballard's perspective is often more internal. His stories are character-driven and rarely linger on technical jargon. His work belongs in equal parts to the paranoid visions of William Gibson and the alternative mindset of William Burroughs.

Born in Shanghai, China, James Graham Ballard was the son of a textile chemist. Read more

<!--[if gte mso 9]&gt; Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE &lt;![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]&gt; &lt;![endif]-->After hearing the name Saul Bellows on the lips of everyone from my uncle to random other literature geeks, I figured that I’d better just start at the beginning. The first two novelized works by Bellows – Dangling Man (1944) and The Victim (1947) – are generally perceived as the writer warming up to unleash more mature, focused and original works. But when Dangling Man is actually considered, the book does, in many ways, reveal a young and all too insightful writer. Read more

Through the years, the novel has had to change to keep in step with the current times. Occasionally, original aspects of writing are executed which lead to a new stylistic movement. Twain, perhaps can be credited with part of the innovation that contributed to Realism, for he included in the narrative of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn different dialects related to the scene of his tale. However, credit cannot be bestowed solely upon Twain. Howells, Miller, James and Wharton can be credited with observing society in different ways through psychology and through culture. Regardless of who is to be credited with what innovation, the literature of the nineteenth century was drastically different that its predecessors.

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“You’re thirty years old and what do you have?”

“Nothing.”

“Is that what you want?”

"It gives me very little to worry about.”

Focusing on the inability of a group of men to obtain gainful employment during the (first) depression, the Goodis’ novel uses curt phases and direct, plain descriptions of scenes to explicate mood and intent.

Everything is spelled out, nothing is left vague. This isn’t necessarily a device only utilized by Goodis, but it does fit a broad description of pulp/crime/noir fiction coming out of the ‘40s. Read more