Memories of the Space Age [Hardcover]

J. G. Ballard (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Ballard ( Empire of the Sun ; The Day of Creation ) is arguably the pre-eminent living science-fiction writer, and recognized as a literary force by readers and critics outside the SF field. This collection brings together Ballard's "Cape Canaveral stories," eight in all, written between 1962 and 1985, and set in a future when the space program has ceased and civilization itself seems on the wane. Images of waste, abandonment, emptiness and desolation recurtoppling towers, dead astronauts circling the Earth endlessly, deserts, empty swimming pools. In "News from the Sun," life itself is slowly draining away as people are increasingly subject to long fugue states, recalling Eliot's line, "Not with a bang but a whimper." In the title story, the protagonist alternately wanders a deserted Canaveral and tends his dying wife. Ballard writes a clear, flawless prose, rich in deft phrase and vivid imagery. This book is not for the ray-gun and bug-eyed monster crowd.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 216 pages
• Publisher: Arkham House Pub; 1st edition (November 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0870541579
• ISBN-13: 978-0870541575
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,251,990 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born in Shanghai in 1930, J. G. BALLARD is the author of sixteen novels, including "Empire of the Sun," "The Drowned World," and "Crash." He lived in London until his death in April 2009.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Spacey, surreal, dreamy, July 31, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Memories of the Space Age (Hardcover)

Ballard repeats, develops, and resolves his ideas about the psychological impact of space-travel and the temptation of breaking out of the constraints of Time. It's almost like watching someone hone a chess game, moving similar characters around in a similar fashion, but the small changes make all the difference...The reader is consoled for the narrative similarities by some of Ballard's most vivid imagery--sun-bleached aviators and the Cubist beauty of a world released from the fourth dimension. Two stories break away from this somewhat; one is a journey into the Amazon jungle in search of a downed spacecraft that gives a nod to Conrad's Heart of Darkness. In addition, the last story in the anthology, unusually down to earth (for Ballard) and set in an unnamed tropical/South American location, seems almost like a collaboration between Ballard and--possibly--Ray Bradbury. A worthwhile read for a Ballard fan, a touch challenging for other readers.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars End of "The Dream", June 3, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Memories of the Space Age (Hardcover)

I read the book several years ago in its Arkham House first ed. It floored me and has stayed with me ever since. These stories are amazing work. The idea, from one of the Canaveral stories, of people taking pieces of dead astronauts and making them into objects of religious veneration was astounding, and seemingly incredible until pieces of Columbia began to show up on eBay. This is simply one of the finest collections of sociological SF ever written--period. Ballard is proactive and prophetic here; I've read this collection again and again, and it's probably most haunting for those of us born during the Camelot era. We watched as Apollo 11 touched down and then we dreamed of space tourism to the moon and Mars bases by 2000. Now, as The Dream (with a capital D) of space travel limps along like a blind, poor beggar attacked by feral dogs, I keep returning to Ballard's collection. Read it, as my students will do this year, and weep for a lost dream.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Memories of the Sun, November 24, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Tulsa, Oklahoma) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Memories of the Space Age (Hardcover)

I could hardly agree more with the previous review, except to give this fine book five stars. Ballard's stories are not so much literary inventions as they are dreams of worlds that exist in some yet undiscovered realm, which Ballard has been generous enough to describe for us. His bright, at times incandescent, use of metaphor and surreal imagery contrasts wonderfully with a cool, detached and beautifully fluid prose style. Readers of these stories may not appreciate what they find, but they WILL recognize that they have been someplace very different.