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. 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. 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...
more

quick facts
Author:J. G. Ballard
Genre:War novel, Autobiographical novel, Fiction, Historical fiction
Year published:1984
Number of editions:15

Honors and Awards

YearAward Won
1984 Guardian Fiction Prize
« Prev  Next »
YearAward Nomination
1984 Man Booker Prize
« Prev  Next »

Author of Empire of the Sun

J. G. Ballard
J. G. Ballard
November 15, 1930 - April 19, 2009
Birthplace:Shanghai

James Graham Ballard was an English novelist, short story writer, and prominent member of the New Wave movement in science fiction. His best-known books are Crash , adapted into a film by David Cronenberg, and the semi-autobiographical Empire of the Sun , made into a film by Steven Spielberg,...
more

Additional works by J. G. Ballard
BookCopyright DateGenre
Concrete Island November 1974 Science Fiction
The Wind from Nowhere 1961 Science Fiction
Hello America 1981 Dystopia
Memories of the Space Age 1988 Science Fiction
The Drowned World 1962 Science Fiction
Passport to Eternity 1963 Science Fiction
Vermilion Sands 1971 Science Fiction
The Disaster Area 1967 Science Fiction
The Day of Forever 1967 Science Fiction
Myths of the Near Future 1982 Science Fiction
The Venus Hunters 1980 Science Fiction
War Fever 1990 Fiction
Low-Flying Aircraft and Other Stories 1976 Speculative fiction
The Impossible Man 1966 Science Fiction
The Four-Dimensional Nightmare 1963 Science Fiction
The Terminal Beach 1964 Science Fiction
The Overloaded Man 1967 Science Fiction
The Kindness of Women Autobiographical novel
The Drought Science Fiction
Cocaine Nights September 1996 Fiction
Super-Cannes 2000 Fiction
Crash 1973 Novel
The Unlimited Dream Company 1979 Novel
Running Wild November 1988 Speculative fiction
The Day of Creation 1987 Novel
Millennium People September 2003 Speculative fiction
The Crystal World 1966 Science Fiction
High Rise 1975 Novel
Rushing to Paradise 1994 Novel
The Atrocity Exhibition 1970 Speculative fiction
Miracles of Life February 4, 2008 Autobiography
Kingdom Come September 4, 2006 Crime Fiction
A User's Guide to the Millennium: Essays and Reviews 1996
The Best Short Stories of J. G. Ballard 1978 Speculative fiction
Billenium 1962 Speculative fiction
The Voices of Time 1985 Speculative fiction
The Best Science Fiction of J. G. Ballard 1977 Speculative fiction
The Complete Short Stories: Volume I September 2006 Speculative fiction
The Complete Short Stories: Volume II September 2006 Speculative fiction
El Mundo Sumergido
La Isla de Cemento
Why I Want to Fuck Ronald Reagan
Chronopolis and Other Stories Science Fiction
« Prev  Next »

Film adaptations of Empire of the Sun

Empire of the Sun
Empire of the Sun
Release date:December 9, 1987
Directed by:Steven Spielberg
Rated:PG (USA)
Runtime:154 minutes

Empire of the Sun is a 1987 American coming of age war film based on J. G. Ballard's semi-autobiographical novel of the same name. Steven Spielberg directed the film, which stars Christian Bale, John Malkovich, Miranda Richardson, and Nigel Havers. The film tells the story of Jamie "Jim" Graham, a...
more

Literary Genres

War novel
War novel

A war novel is a novel in which the primary action takes place in a field of armed combat, or in a domestic setting where the characters are...
more

Autobiographical novel
Autobiographical novel

An autobiographical novel is a form of novel using autofiction techniques, or the merging of autobiographical and fiction elements. The literary...
more

Fiction
Fiction

Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but...
more

Historical fiction
Historical fiction

Historical fiction tells a story that is set in the past. That setting is usually real and drawn from history, and often contains actual historical...
more

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Q:
    "Empire of the Sun" is of which genre?
  • A:
    The book is classified as- War novel and Autobiographical novel.
  • Q:
    How many pages is the book "Empire of the Sun"?
  • A:
    The work contains 279 pages.
  • Q:
    The work, "Empire of the Sun" is of which literary category?
  • A:
    "Empire of the Sun" is cataloged in the category: China, History and World War II
  • Q:
    When was the work "Empire of the Sun" first made available to the public?
  • A:
    The work was first printed in September, 1984.

Bestselling Books

This week's bestselling books according to Amazon.com
  • 1.
    The Hunger Games
  • 2.
    Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games)
  • 3.
    Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, Book 3)
  • 4.
    Once Upon a Secret: My Affair with President John F. Kennedy and Its Aftermath
  • 5.
    Bringing Up Bebe: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting
  • 6.
    Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America
  • 7.
    Kill Shot (Mitch Rapp)
  • 8.
    The End of Illness
  • 9.
    Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, death, and hope in a Mumbai undercity
  • 10.
    Steve Jobs
Empire of the Sun
Top of Page © 2012 Juggle, LLC
All Rights Reserved
Encyclopedia & Reference Resource
Some of the content on this page was provided by other sites, including
Freebase Icon (Empire of the Sun) or others licensed under Creative Commons