England Swings SF - Judith Merril (ed) / Press reactions to JG Ballard

 

Remember Swinging England? Of course you don't, you probably weren't even born. Still, you have this time machine with which to read all about the decade (perhaps more accurately, the first half of the decade?) when England was the epicentre of Cool. Exactly when England was officially designated the most swinging place in the world, I'm not sure.

There was an attempt to revive the idea in the 90s when Blur and Oasis went head-to-head but they didn't have a chance in hell against the likes of The Who, The Beatles, The Kinks or The Small Faces, did they? Never mind that Cool Britannia under Tony Blair was a superficial gloss, thinly applied, easily seen through compared to the mass of talent in music, film, fashion and art that came to the fore three decades earlier.

So here is England Swings SF with a jacket design by Richard Merkin, who became friends with Peter Blake and through Blake's cover for Sgt. Pepper was immortalised as one of the collaged crowd on the sleeve. Coincidentally, Merril interspersed her intro with lyrics from St. Pepper. 

I bought this hardback, first edition recently, preferring it to the inferior paperback cover. You know, sometimes you have to have certain editions and although I'm not normally driven to pay more just for the cover, this time I did. Note the derogatory remarks regarding New Wave sci-fi from some big names on the back. I could be a bit derogatory by suggesting that England had stopped swinging by the time of the book's publication date, 1968. But what kind of killjoy would deny Judith her right to exploit the idea and produce a late-Pop Art/Lit masterpiece in the process? 

The cover is reminiscent of the work Paolozzi was producing as prints; the juxtaposition of photography and graphic art in collage form, much like illustrations that would grace the pages of New Worlds magazine in the hands of Michael Moorcock as editor. 

Three JG Ballard stories feature and as a bonus press reactions to Ballard in another hot magazine of the day, Ambit, are included. I've scanned them and stuck them together for you to read.

I haven't started to read any of the stories yet. For now it just sits facing out on the bookshelf, looking magnificent.