Crash
The definitive cult, post-modern novel – a shocking blend of violence, transgression and eroticism – reissued with an introduction from Zadie Smith.
After being bombarded endlessly by road-safety propaganda it was almost a relief to find myself in an actual accident.
When James Ballard smashes his car into another, he becomes fascinated with the allure of violence. His new friend Dr Robert Vaughan – a charismatic figure with a dubious sense of morality – leads him to a transgressive underworld of desire, where the collision of modernity and sex are pushed to the extremes. In a society ruled by mass-media and technological advancements, are there any limits to humanity’s obsessions?
”'An extraordinary writer … Calm and curious, pointing out every new convergence, Ballard reminds us that dreams are often perverse” - Zadie Smith
”'Ballard is beleaguered by his obsessions … remorselessly visual” - Martin Amis
”'One of the few genuine surrealists this country has produced, the possessor of a terrifying and exhilarating imagination” - Guardian
'A work of very powerful originality. Ballard is amongst our finest writers of fiction' Anthony Burgess -
'Ballard has issued a series of bulletins on the modern world of almost unerring prescience. Other writers describe; Ballard anticipates' Will Self -