Miracles of Life
Encyclopedia
Miracles of Life is an autobiography written by British writer J. G. Ballard
and published in 2008.
in the 1930s and the early 1940s, when the city is ravaged by the Second Sino-Japanese War
and W.W.II. After the happy years spent with his well-to-do family in the International Settlement, Ballard experiences the horrors of war and then the deprivations of an internment camp, Lunghua
, where he is imprisoned with his parents, his sister, and hundreds of other British, Belgian, and Dutch nationals.
After being liberated by the Americans in 1945, James returns to England with his mother and sister, but the return to his home country—which he does not really know, being born in Shanghai—is made difficult by the dismal atmosphere of post-war Britain and the difficulty of integrating into British society. After beginning medical studies at a prestigious Cambridge
college, Ballard quits the university and enlists in the R.A.F.
The stint with the air force in a Canadian air base will prove to be a wrong move, and Ballard quits the R.A.F. and returns to Britain. The autobiography subsequently describes his happy marriage, the birth of his children (the "miracles of life" that the title hints at), his wife's sudden and unexpected death, and the ensuing difficulties, which Ballard faces by deciding to raise his children as a single parent.
The book also describes the beginning of his literary career, his friendship with pop artist Eduardo Paolozzi
, his experimentation culminating in his destructured novel The Atrocity Exhibition
, though less space is devoted to the Sixties and the Seventies than to the 15 years spent in Shanghai. Also the story of the success of Empire of the Sun
and the making of Spielberg's film based on it is told, re-telling in non-novelistic style events already covered in his previous autofiction The Kindness of Women
.
The book ends with Ballard's return to Shanghai in 1991, and with a very short and moving epilogue where the writer announces that he is sick with a terminal illness.
Throughout Miracles of Life Ballard compares the events of his life as he remembers them and the more or less inventive way in which he has told them in his previous life narratives Empire of the Sun and The Kindness of Women.
and in the autofiction The Kindness of Women
. Ballard has repeatedly declared that those two books are a mix of real events and fictional elaboration. Since Ballard has interwoven real life experiences (especially the time spent in the Lunghua camp) in many of his works (even the overtly non-realistic ones, such as his science-fiction novels and short stories), many readers were interested in the opportunity to read Ballard's own possibly ultimate version.
The book actually offers important biographical details about Ballard's crucial period in Shanghai, 1930-1946, but does not cover in detail other parts of his life (e.g. the 1970s and 1980s). However, many elements of Miracles show Ballard's intention to present it as a truthful narrative of his life, such as the pictures of his parents, his wife, his children, and his current partner. A remarkable difference of this narrative from both Empire and Kindness is the presence of Ballard's parents, who had been edited out from these earlier works. With regard to Empire, Ballard explains:
Much of the added value of the book is to be found in Ballard's witty and insightful remarks that comment on his experiences, but also tie the facts of his childhood and teenage years to the realities of today's globalized world. Shanghai, the city he was born in and the one he gets back to in his 1991 visit, is envisioned as a prototype of our late-modern or postmodern world.
J. G. Ballard
James Graham Ballard was an English novelist, short story writer, and prominent member of the New Wave movement in science fiction...
and published in 2008.
Overview
The book describes Ballard's childhood and early teenage years in ShanghaiShanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
in the 1930s and the early 1940s, when the city is ravaged by the Second Sino-Japanese War
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
and W.W.II. After the happy years spent with his well-to-do family in the International Settlement, Ballard experiences the horrors of war and then the deprivations of an internment camp, Lunghua
Lunghua Civilian Assembly Center
Lunghua Civil Assembly Centre was one of the internment camps eventually established by the Empire of Japan in Shanghai for European and American citizens, who had anyway been resident under Japanese occupation since December 1941. James Graham Ballard was interned in the camp as an adolescent...
, where he is imprisoned with his parents, his sister, and hundreds of other British, Belgian, and Dutch nationals.
After being liberated by the Americans in 1945, James returns to England with his mother and sister, but the return to his home country—which he does not really know, being born in Shanghai—is made difficult by the dismal atmosphere of post-war Britain and the difficulty of integrating into British society. After beginning medical studies at a prestigious Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
college, Ballard quits the university and enlists in the R.A.F.
The stint with the air force in a Canadian air base will prove to be a wrong move, and Ballard quits the R.A.F. and returns to Britain. The autobiography subsequently describes his happy marriage, the birth of his children (the "miracles of life" that the title hints at), his wife's sudden and unexpected death, and the ensuing difficulties, which Ballard faces by deciding to raise his children as a single parent.
The book also describes the beginning of his literary career, his friendship with pop artist Eduardo Paolozzi
Eduardo Paolozzi
Sir Eduardo Luigi Paolozzi, KBE, RA , was a Scottish sculptor and artist. He was a major figure in the international art sphere, while, working on his own interpretation and vision of the world. Paolozzi investigated how we can fit into the modern world to resemble our fragmented civilization...
, his experimentation culminating in his destructured novel The Atrocity Exhibition
The Atrocity Exhibition
The Atrocity Exhibition is an experimental collection of "condensed novels" by British writer J. G. Ballard.Originally published in 1970 by Jonathan Cape. A revised large format paperback edition, with annotations by the author and illustrations by Phoebe Gloeckner, was issued by RE/Search in 1990...
, though less space is devoted to the Sixties and the Seventies than to the 15 years spent in Shanghai. Also the story of the success of Empire of the Sun
Empire of the Sun
Empire of the Sun is a 1984 novel by J. G. Ballard which was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. Like Ballard's earlier short story, "The Dead Time" , it is essentially fiction but draws extensively on Ballard's experiences in World War II...
and the making of Spielberg's film based on it is told, re-telling in non-novelistic style events already covered in his previous autofiction The Kindness of Women
The Kindness of Women
The Kindness of Women is a 1991 novel by British author J.G. Ballard. A sequel to his 1984 novel Empire of the Sun, which drew on the author's boyhood in Shanghai during World War II, The Kindness of Women presents a lightly fictionalized treatment of Ballard's life from Shanghai through to...
.
The book ends with Ballard's return to Shanghai in 1991, and with a very short and moving epilogue where the writer announces that he is sick with a terminal illness.
Throughout Miracles of Life Ballard compares the events of his life as he remembers them and the more or less inventive way in which he has told them in his previous life narratives Empire of the Sun and The Kindness of Women.
Importance of the book
As soon as the publication of Miracles was announced in 2007, Ballard scholars and experts looked forward to it, expecting it to clarify some aspects of Ballard's life that had been fictionally reworked in his previous works, especially in the partly autobiographical novel Empire of the SunEmpire of the Sun
Empire of the Sun is a 1984 novel by J. G. Ballard which was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. Like Ballard's earlier short story, "The Dead Time" , it is essentially fiction but draws extensively on Ballard's experiences in World War II...
and in the autofiction The Kindness of Women
The Kindness of Women
The Kindness of Women is a 1991 novel by British author J.G. Ballard. A sequel to his 1984 novel Empire of the Sun, which drew on the author's boyhood in Shanghai during World War II, The Kindness of Women presents a lightly fictionalized treatment of Ballard's life from Shanghai through to...
. Ballard has repeatedly declared that those two books are a mix of real events and fictional elaboration. Since Ballard has interwoven real life experiences (especially the time spent in the Lunghua camp) in many of his works (even the overtly non-realistic ones, such as his science-fiction novels and short stories), many readers were interested in the opportunity to read Ballard's own possibly ultimate version.
The book actually offers important biographical details about Ballard's crucial period in Shanghai, 1930-1946, but does not cover in detail other parts of his life (e.g. the 1970s and 1980s). However, many elements of Miracles show Ballard's intention to present it as a truthful narrative of his life, such as the pictures of his parents, his wife, his children, and his current partner. A remarkable difference of this narrative from both Empire and Kindness is the presence of Ballard's parents, who had been edited out from these earlier works. With regard to Empire, Ballard explains:
In my novel the most important break with real events is the absence from Lunghua of my parents... I felt it was closer to the psychological and emotional truth of events to make 'Jim' effectively a war orphan.
Much of the added value of the book is to be found in Ballard's witty and insightful remarks that comment on his experiences, but also tie the facts of his childhood and teenage years to the realities of today's globalized world. Shanghai, the city he was born in and the one he gets back to in his 1991 visit, is envisioned as a prototype of our late-modern or postmodern world.
Criticism
- Rossi, Umberto. “Mind is the Battlefield: Reading Ballard's ‘Life Trilogy’ as War Literature”, J. Baxter (ed.), J.G. Ballard, Contemporary Critical Perspectives, London, Continuum, 2008, 66-77.
External links
- Review of Miracles of Life in The Observer
- Review in The Guardian
- Review in The Telegraph
- Review in the Independent
- Review in the Independent.ie
- Review in The Spectator
- Review in The Times Online
- Review in the Literary Review
- Review in The Scotsman
- Review in the Daily Mail
- Review in Time Out
- Review in Time magazine
- An interview and an extract of the book in The Ballardian
- Review in The Times Literary Supplement
- Review in The Globe and Mail