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J.G. Ballard's 1984 novel Empire of the Sun is regularly described as autobiographical. That characterization is apt—there are many parallels between the experiences of the novel's protagonist, Jim Graham, and those of Ballard—but it should not be taken to mean that every person or event depicted in Empire of the Sun has a real-life analogue. Much of the novel is pure invention, and readers who neglect this fact and instead focus excessively on correspondences between the novel and Ballard's life can thus ________