| Empire of the Sun (novel) | |
|---|---|
Cover of the first edition (hardback) |
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| Author(s) | J. G. Ballard |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Autobiographical, War novel |
| Publisher | Gollancz |
| Publication date | 13 September 1984 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 278 pp (first edition, hardback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-575-03483-1 (first edition, hardback) |
| OCLC Number | 260149687 |
| LC Classification | PR6052.A46 E45x 1984b |
| Followed by | The Kindness of Women |
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" (published in the anthology Myths of the Near Future), it is essentially fiction but draws extensively on Ballard's experiences in World War II. The name of the novel refers to the Kanji characters of the Empire of Japan.
Ballard later wrote a sequel, entitled The Kindness of Women.
Contents |
The novel recounts the story of a young British boy, Jim Graham, who lives with his parents in Shanghai. After the Pearl Harbor attack, the Japanese occupy the Shanghai International Settlement, and in the following chaos Jim becomes separated from his parents.
He spends some time in abandoned mansions, living on remnants of packaged food, but is soon picked up by the Japanese and interned in the Lunghua Civilian Assembly Center.
Although the Japanese are "officially" the enemies, Jim identifies partly with them, both because he adores the pilots with their splendid machines and because he feels that Lunghua is still a comparatively safe place for him
Towards the end of the war, with the Japanese army collapsing, the food supply runs short. Jim barely survives, with people around him starving to death.
The book was adapted by Tom Stoppard in 1987. The screenplay was filmed by Steven Spielberg, to critical acclaim, being nominated for six Oscars and winning three British Academy Awards (for cinematography, music and sound). It starred 13-year-old Christian Bale, as well as John Malkovich and Miranda Richardson.