Empire of the Sun, by J.G. Ballard
Title: Empire of the Sun
Author: J.G. Ballard
Publication date: 1984
Edition: Buccaneer Books
# of pages: 279
Source: Local library
FOREWORD
Empire of the Sun describes my experiences in Shanghai, China, during the Second World War, and in Lunghua C.A.C. (Civilian Assembly Centre), where I was interned from 1942 to 1945. For the most part this novel is an eyewitness account of events I observed during the Japanese occupation of Shanghai and within the camp at Lunghua.
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor took place on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, but as a result of time differences across the Pacific Date Line it was then already the morning of Monday, December 8, in Shanghai. During the war, as I have recounted, the great pagoda at Lunghua was equipped with antiaircraft guns and served as a flak tower. The military airfield at Hungjao is now the site of Shanghai International Airport.
Let's start with two typical paragraphs:
Jim gazed at the prisoners wandering across the compound. Groups of boys played football in the brick yard of the ceramics works. Were his mother and father hiding among the kilns? Perhaps, like the British camp leaders, they wanted Jim to go away, frightened of the flies and the sickness that he had brought with him from Shanghai.
Jim helped Basie and Dr. Ransome to drink, and then sat on the opposite bench. He turned his back on the camp, on the British prisoners and their children. All his hopes rested in the landscape around him, in its past and future wars. He felt a strange lightness in his head, not because his parents had rejected him, but because he expected them to do so, and no longer cared.
One thing to notice is that despite the first person forward, the entire book is written in the third person, from the point of view of "Jim" (sometimes "Jamie".) Jim, like J.G. (James Graham) Ballard, was born in 1930 and was eleven years old on Pearl Harbor day, when the action in this book starts. Underneath the title on the title page are the words "A Novel", yet the foreword says it describes the author's experiences ("For the most part this novel is an eye-witness account . . ."). As I was reading, I constantly wondered which parts were real and which invented (or borrowed from other sources.) I didn't read any background material before starting so my only "outside" information was from the foreword. Once I finished the book, I spent some time on Wikipedia and other internet sources to answer some of the questions that came up in my reading.
In one big difference, Ballard was interned with his parents and his sister whereas Jim was separated from his parents, and reunited with them at the very end after the war is over. Much of the beginning of the book is taken up with Jim surviving in Shanghai without his parents and then hoping to be reunited with them in camp. In that first third of the book, he also is befriended by Bassie, an American merchant marine, who pops up again in the middle and again at the end. Bassie is reminiscent of Milo Minderbinder from Catch-22, though his activities are restricted to the camp. He variously feeds Jim, tries to sell him, exploits him and mentors him. Bassie must be an invention or a composite.
Jim also shares a room at camp with the Vincent family, father, mother and son. Their relations are distant at best, antagonistic at worst. "He knew that if he starved to death in his bunk [Mrs. Vincent] would find some polite reason for doing nothing to help him." Perhaps Mrs. Vincent is a reflection of his own mother and her efforts to keep her family alive?
Another thing to notice from the sample paragraphs is the relative simplicity of the language. Among other things, it conveys the idea of Jim being a relatively naive observer, especially at the beginning. There are some observations or acuity of recollection that would be beyond an 11-year old, but the language enhances the point of view. Much of the brutality and horror of war is both softened and amplified by the simple descriptions.
This book is obviously a bildungsroman, though Jim's journey is circumscribed and his influences unusual. Given the life and death circumstances, Jim is sometimes neglected and even actively abused but often sheltered. Jim isn't fully aware of the sacrifices that others make on his behalf. One lesson he learns is explicitly stated in the final third of the book as the starving prisoners are being moved out of their camp and Jim cares for Mr. Maxsted, the father of a pre-war friend, until he dies. "He had learned that having someone to care for was the same as being cared for by someone else."
Ballard was a prominent member of the New Wave movement in science fiction and has seven books in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. Two of his science fiction books have already gotten lukewarm reviews as part of this project. Ballard may be on the list because of some academic fixation, but this book isn't science fiction and I really enjoyed it, so I say it does belong. And I'll read at least one of his other books just to see what they're all about.
Author: J.G. Ballard
Publication date: 1984
Edition: Buccaneer Books
# of pages: 279
Source: Local library
FOREWORD
Empire of the Sun describes my experiences in Shanghai, China, during the Second World War, and in Lunghua C.A.C. (Civilian Assembly Centre), where I was interned from 1942 to 1945. For the most part this novel is an eyewitness account of events I observed during the Japanese occupation of Shanghai and within the camp at Lunghua.
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor took place on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, but as a result of time differences across the Pacific Date Line it was then already the morning of Monday, December 8, in Shanghai. During the war, as I have recounted, the great pagoda at Lunghua was equipped with antiaircraft guns and served as a flak tower. The military airfield at Hungjao is now the site of Shanghai International Airport.
Let's start with two typical paragraphs:
Jim gazed at the prisoners wandering across the compound. Groups of boys played football in the brick yard of the ceramics works. Were his mother and father hiding among the kilns? Perhaps, like the British camp leaders, they wanted Jim to go away, frightened of the flies and the sickness that he had brought with him from Shanghai.
Jim helped Basie and Dr. Ransome to drink, and then sat on the opposite bench. He turned his back on the camp, on the British prisoners and their children. All his hopes rested in the landscape around him, in its past and future wars. He felt a strange lightness in his head, not because his parents had rejected him, but because he expected them to do so, and no longer cared.
One thing to notice is that despite the first person forward, the entire book is written in the third person, from the point of view of "Jim" (sometimes "Jamie".) Jim, like J.G. (James Graham) Ballard, was born in 1930 and was eleven years old on Pearl Harbor day, when the action in this book starts. Underneath the title on the title page are the words "A Novel", yet the foreword says it describes the author's experiences ("For the most part this novel is an eye-witness account . . ."). As I was reading, I constantly wondered which parts were real and which invented (or borrowed from other sources.) I didn't read any background material before starting so my only "outside" information was from the foreword. Once I finished the book, I spent some time on Wikipedia and other internet sources to answer some of the questions that came up in my reading.
In one big difference, Ballard was interned with his parents and his sister whereas Jim was separated from his parents, and reunited with them at the very end after the war is over. Much of the beginning of the book is taken up with Jim surviving in Shanghai without his parents and then hoping to be reunited with them in camp. In that first third of the book, he also is befriended by Bassie, an American merchant marine, who pops up again in the middle and again at the end. Bassie is reminiscent of Milo Minderbinder from Catch-22, though his activities are restricted to the camp. He variously feeds Jim, tries to sell him, exploits him and mentors him. Bassie must be an invention or a composite.
Jim also shares a room at camp with the Vincent family, father, mother and son. Their relations are distant at best, antagonistic at worst. "He knew that if he starved to death in his bunk [Mrs. Vincent] would find some polite reason for doing nothing to help him." Perhaps Mrs. Vincent is a reflection of his own mother and her efforts to keep her family alive?
Another thing to notice from the sample paragraphs is the relative simplicity of the language. Among other things, it conveys the idea of Jim being a relatively naive observer, especially at the beginning. There are some observations or acuity of recollection that would be beyond an 11-year old, but the language enhances the point of view. Much of the brutality and horror of war is both softened and amplified by the simple descriptions.
This book is obviously a bildungsroman, though Jim's journey is circumscribed and his influences unusual. Given the life and death circumstances, Jim is sometimes neglected and even actively abused but often sheltered. Jim isn't fully aware of the sacrifices that others make on his behalf. One lesson he learns is explicitly stated in the final third of the book as the starving prisoners are being moved out of their camp and Jim cares for Mr. Maxsted, the father of a pre-war friend, until he dies. "He had learned that having someone to care for was the same as being cared for by someone else."
Ballard was a prominent member of the New Wave movement in science fiction and has seven books in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. Two of his science fiction books have already gotten lukewarm reviews as part of this project. Ballard may be on the list because of some academic fixation, but this book isn't science fiction and I really enjoyed it, so I say it does belong. And I'll read at least one of his other books just to see what they're all about.