In the following essay, Gross notes Ballard's departure from the science fiction genre in Empire of the Sun.
J. G. Ballard is a famous name among sciencefiction fans, but many of his admirers, most notably Anthony Burgess, have argued that science fiction is too constricting a label for his work. Now, for the first time, Mr. Ballard has abandoned fantasy— though not the fantastic—and produced a straightforward, naturalistic narrative. As he explains in his foreword, it is closely based on his own experiences as a young boy in China during World War II.
If one still hesitates to call Empire of the Sun a conventional novel, it is only because many of the scenes in it are so lurid and bizarre, so very nearly out of this world. Among other things, they help to explain why.....
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