J. G. Ballard

Jeannette Baxter (Anglia Ruskin University)
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James Graham Ballard was born on 15 November, 1930 in Shanghai, China. The son of a managing director for a subsidiary of a Manchester textile firm, Ballard grew up in an expatriate suburban idyll, a comfortable enclave of large houses, swimming pools, servants and chauffer-driven Packards. At that time, Shanghai was an American zone of influence, and the young Ballard's cultural diet was a peculiar mix of classic children's literature (

Alice in Wonderland

,

Robinson Crusoe

and

Gulliver's Travels

), American comics and magazines (

Collier's

,

Life

), and American cinema. Ballard was educated at the Cathedral school in Shanghai, but his comfortable colonial life-style came to an abrupt end in 1942 when, in the aftermath of Pearl Harbour, Ballard was interned with his parents and his younger…

3241 words

Citation: Baxter, Jeannette. "J. G. Ballard". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 November 2001; last revised 28 April 2009. [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=235, accessed 19 March 2024.]

235 J. G. Ballard 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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