Add MS 89203/2/3/3

Correspondence with J. G. Ballard, together with other Ballard related material:

(1). Correspondence by letter:

• Ballard to Self, 3 May 1995. Autograph letter (1 sheet). Refers to the conversation between Ballard and Self (1994) published in Self, Junk Mail (1995). 'I very much enjoyed our conversation & I think the transcript does it full justice. I've tidied up my own dialogue, since in places it seems semi-literate - if the whole piece is too long to include, I suggest you drop the stuff about Rushing to Paradise, or at least part of it.'
• Ballard to Self, 30 Dec 2000. Autograph letter (1 sheet). Provides a quotation for publicity purposes.
• Self to Ballard, 14 July 2006. Typed letter (2 sheets, carbon). 'I am writing to you on my 1930 Imperial "Good Companion" (excellent vintage), to say what a pleasure it was to see you yesterday.' Refers to having been reading James Joyce 'the past year, intrigued by the idea of writing a fully Modernist novel' [i.e. Umbrella].
• Self to Ballard, 25 May 2007. Typed letter (1 sheet, carbon) written from the Isle of Jura, Argyll. 'I write to you on my Olivetti Lettera - a classic of a typewriter'.
• Self to Ballard, 24 June 2007. Typed letter (1 sheet, carbon). Refers to having just seen the German film The Lives of Others (2006). 'The film would be worth seeing or the furniture alone, but best of all is that the entire plot hinges on a typewriter, specifically a Grona Kolibri, a portable of beautiful compact sleekness, which our hero is able to hide from the Stasi.'
• Self to Ballard, 23 Dec 2007. Typed letter (1 sheet, carbon). 'Many thanks for your kind words re. "Psychogeography", which was received well in the US, but with a tweedy silence here'.
• Self to Ballard, 8 May 2008. Typed letter (1 sheet, carbon). Refers to Ballard's 'chemo' treatment. Self is 'speedily bashing out the end of this book "Liver"' before departing for 'the much anticipated walk to Hollywood'.
• Self to Ballard, 6 Nov 2008. Typed letter (1 sheet, carbon). Refers to Liver, and to the American election.
• Self to Ballard, 13 Dec 2008. Typed letter (2 sheets, carbon). Refers to the Golden Pen Award for Lifetime Achievement (PEN) awarded (2008) to Ballard, received on his behalf by Self. After trips to Sicily and to the US, Self is completing Walking to Hollywood, to be delivered 'by the end of the summer'. Self recently saw Jonathan Waxman (Ballard's physician) being interviewed on television.
• Self to Ballard, 18 Dec 2008. Typed letter (1 sheet, carbon). 'Little whispers seem to be circulating with regard to your memoir; namely, that it's very good - and moving.' Self is working on the story 'Prometheus' (Liver).
• Self to Ballard, 28 Feb [2009]. Typed letter (1 sheet, carbon). Congratulates Ballard on his memoir Miracles of Life (2008).
• Self to Ballard, 2 Mar 2009. Typed letter (1 sheet, carbon). Refers to having met Richard Bradford, writing a critical biography of Martin Amis. Self is about to set off on his 'walking tour of Dubai'.

2. Forty-one postcards from Ballard. All autograph unless otherwise stated, and usually dated. The messages often span two or three postcards, none of which are franked, indicating they were originally posted within envelopes (which Self has not kept).

• 13 Dec 1993. Two postcards (images of Shanghai). 'I strongly recommend The Black Box [...] about 30 cockpit voice-recorder transcripts of airliner crashes, about half of them fatal - very moving'.
• 20 May 1994. One postcard (Dali, Meditation on a Harp). Thanks Self for his 'generous comments' on Crash. 'You really need a TV series all your own'.
• 27 Oct 1995. Two postcards (Los Angeles: Coca Cola Building and Wigwam Motel Route 66). 'Very much enjoyed Junk Mail' (1995).
• 8 Jan 1996. One postcard (South Beach Miami architecture). Deferring dinner suggestion - 'the time isn't right at present'.
• 15 May 1996. One postcard (Dali, Swans Reflecting Elephants). 'Cronenberg's Crash is stunning'.
• 12 Sep 1997. Two postcards and a colour photograph used as a postcard (Minnesota cows, Union Jack, photograph of ginger cat). Having read The Sweet Smell of Psychosis ('the equal of E. Waugh') and looking forward to reading Great Apes. Refers to Self's 'escapade aboard Major's election plane'.
• [1997]. One postcard (Jean Marais, La Bête). Comments on Great Apes (1997).
• 15 May 1998. Three postcards (Dali, The Lugubrious Game, The Persistence of Memory, The Great Masturbator). Comments on Tough, Tough Toys (1998).
• 17 Jul 2006. Two postcards (Brueghel, The Triumph of Death; Rousseau, The Dream). 'The Modernist idea is great [...] I love the idea that around 1900 the tube was as new as the Jubilee Line, and not lined with generations of human fat'.
• 19 Sep 2006. Two postcards (photograph of de Chirico in studio; Dali, The Invisible Man). 'Very many thanks for the superb article in GQ'. Ballard hopes that the new novel is going well. 'I still think about Dave, such a potent figure and a natch for Ray Winston[e]'.
• 2 Jan 2007. Two postcards (photograph of Freud; photograph of '25 Millionth Ford'). Looking forward to dinner with Self and 'Martin' [Amis]. 'Inspired by your example, I dug my ancient Olympia Monica out of a cupboard where it's lain among old hockey sticks for 20 years'.
• 8 Jan 2007. One postcard (photograph of Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin). Confirming dinner, 18 Jan.
• 16 May 2007. One postcard (Hopper, Summertime). Dinner proposal.
• [June 2007]. One postcard (Delvaux, The Call of the Night). Typed communication. 'Olympia Monica - it doesn't have the deep Monotype bite of your Olivetti, but it's still deeply satisfying'.
• 11 Dec 2007. Two postcards (Dali, The Persistence of Memory; Delvaux, Street of the Trams). Comments on Psychogeography (2007).
• 5 Feb 2008. Two postcards (Dali, Metamorphosis of Narcissus, and Mountain Lake). Comments on his health and treatment.
• 3 Mar 2008. Two postcards (Dali, Mountain Lake; photograph of Hiroshima bomb). 'Your canoe trip with Iain [Sinclair] into the Olympic fortress zone really touches my imagination'.
• 13 May 2008. Three postcards (Caravaggio, St Matthew and the Angel; Delvaux, The Call of the Night; Dali, Autumnal Cannibalism). 'I'm halfway through this chemo course - feels rather like subsisting on a diet of bad oysters'.
• 1 Jul 2008. Two postcards (Obrist, Formulas for Now: 'Ban Religion' and 'sex x technology = the future'). 'Still too under the weather for dinner'. Ballard has 'moved in with Claire [Walsh]'.
• 26 Aug 2008. One postcard (Portugal scenes). 'Nice coast, unspoilt'.
• [Dec 2008]. Three postcards (Dali, The Persistence of Memory; Leonardo, Leda and the Swan; Hunter S. Thompson quotation). 'It was extremely kind of you to give the PEN speech'. Refers to experience of morphine pain relief.
• [Dec 2008]. Three postcards (Goya, May 3rd 1908; Delvaux, The Call of the Night; Sanzio, La Fornarina). 'It's been a difficult year'.

3. Ballard related material:

• J. G. Ballard Memorial, Tate Modern 15 Nov 2009. Two cards: invitation and programme.
• Draft script (13 sheets) for Self's memorial radio tribute (2009).
• Typed preparatory notes (5 sheets) typed by Fay Ballard towards her father's final unrealised writing project, 'Conversations - Jonathan Waxman [physician] & J. G. Ballard'.