Meeting J.G. Ballard

In the programme Frost on Interviews that was recently rebroadcasted by BBC Four, the distinguished journalist, David Frost, attempted to understand what makes a compelling interview.

Frost’s programme concentrated primarily on the actions of the interviewer. Various questions were asked, most notably: should one take a relaxed or heavy-handed approach with their guest?

I tell this anecdote because I was half way through reading Extreme Metaphors: Selected Interviews with J.G. Ballard 1967-2008,when I stumbled upon this insightful programme. But the process Frost was speaking about was light-years away from the text I was reading.

For J.G. Ballard — arguably one of the most important prose fiction writers to contribute to British culture in the post war period — an interview wasn’t just an opportunity to flog his latest novel; talk about his characters, or name check his literary heroes.

Any time Ballard indulged a journalist — usually at his home in Shepperton — for an intimate chat, the occasion became almost like an experiment: one where the writer tests his hypothesis with his interlocutor.