Crash: A Novel [Paperback]

J. G. Ballard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 5, 2001

In this hallucinatory novel, an automobile provides the hellish tableau in which Vaughan, a "TV scientist" turned "nightmare angel of the highways," experiments with erotic atrocities among auto crash victims, each more sinister than the last. James Ballard, his friend and fellow obsessive, tells the story of this twisted visionary as he careens rapidly toward his own demise in an internationally orchestrated car crash with Elizabeth Taylor.

A classic work of cutting-edge fiction, Crash explores both the disturbing implications and horrific possibilities of contemporary society's increasing dependence on technology as intermediary in human relations.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

J. G. Ballard's graphic, violent novel is controversial wherever it is read, even on Amazon.com's own Web page! The book's characters are obsessed with automobile accidents and are determined to narrate the horrors of the car crash as luridly as possible. In the words of the novel's protagonist, the wounds caused by automobile collisions are "the keys to a new sexuality born from a perverse technology." Read this novel and learn why David Cronenberg, who had previously adapted Dead Ringers and Naked Lunch for the screen, fought to turn it into his latest film. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"A work of very powerful originality. Ballard is among our finest writers of fiction."—Anthony Burgess

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Picador; 1st edition (October 5, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312420331
• ISBN-13: 978-0312420338
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (130 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #61,688 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born in Shanghai in 1930, J. G. BALLARD is the author of sixteen novels, including "Empire of the Sun," "The Drowned World," and "Crash." He lived in London until his death in April 2009.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Certainly not for everyone... August 2, 2000

By William C. Chesser

Format:Paperback

I have only been aware of this book since the movie was released in 1996. It is amazing that this was actually published almost 30 years ago. I'd love to know how it was recieved back then. This is the 3rd Ballard book I've read (Atrocity Exhibition and Concrete Island, were the other 2). He is interested/obsessed with the dehumanizing effect that modern technology is having on the human race.

This is one "icky" read. If you're revolted by textbook-like discussion of body fluids, trauma wounds, and pathologically self-absorbed human beings...stay away. The character Ballard's obsession with Gabrielle's scars from her accident was the most vivid and disturbing image that I will take away from this book...yecch. For all the sex (of any and every flavor you'd can imagine, and some you'd best not) it is written so clinically that it isn't very erotic. Indeed, I don't think Ballard (the author) used one four-letter word in the whole story. Now that's quite a feat in a story that averages a sexual coupling (of whatever with what-have-you)every 2-3 pages.

I bought the three books, because Ballard's name kept popping up on my reco list (Thanks, Amazon). The synopses sounded intriguing. I like dark stuff, I guess. What's missing from this work and from "Concrete Island" is humor. For such "out-there" material, Ballard takes everything far too seriously.

121 of 144 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Weird even for Ballard August 23, 2002

By magellan HALL OF FAMETOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback

I've been a fan of J.G. Ballard's ever since I read The Drowned World and The Wind from Nowhere, both dramatic and imposing mood pieces about the end of the world. Ballard's prose has a heavy, sensual languidness to it suited to these dark themes, some of which derives from his unhurried rhythm and pacing. In fact, his prose seems to have an almost oxymoronic, somnolent muscularity and strength--a quality that certain Buddhist statues, which are said to represent "the spirit of strength in repose"--are also said to possess, interestingly enough. (I suspect Ballard himself would be amused by such a recondite association). And as another reviewer here remarked, perhaps his prose is something of an acquired taste.

But getting back to the book, this story about a strange and disturbing subculture that has evolved a sexual obsession and fetish for crashing automobiles is no doubt one of the more bizarre ideas for a novel ever created. The members even go so far as to create and re-enact fatal "classic" car crashes from the past--such as the one that killed James Dean or Jane Mansfield. Its theme also reminded me of the recent movie, the Fight Club, in its idea of a repressed and narcissistic culture of violence that lies just beneath the surface of our otherwise highly polished, technologically advanced society.

Since I also saw the movie, I thought I would comment on it here. I didn't think I was going to like the book or the film originally, even though I'm a fan of Ballard's, but I found I actually liked it a lot despite my initial misgivings. Partly, this was because I happened to hear an interview on the radio where Ballard discussed how he got the idea for the book, and which helped to explain it at least somewhat. Well, maybe. It's still pretty weird.... Anyway, I'll recount the story here for those who missed the interview. It was on National Public Radio.

Ballard said he got the idea from passing a fatal traffic accident where a beautiful women had been killed, and you could see everything from the road as you drove by. The woman's body had ended up mostly nude on the rear deck of the passenger compartment, and he said people were driving by gawking at the scene and rubbernecking, and he suddenly got the idea that the whole thing was very erotic for them despite the obviously tragic circumstances and the woman's untimely death. At that point the link between eroticism, car crashes, and death was made, and he was off and running with his bizzare new story idea.

I thought Spader, Koteas, Unger, and Hunter were excellent in their roles, and that also helped to make an otherwise implausible film more realistic. Of course, it's a David Cronenberg film, so what was I expecting? Well, I was probably expecting lots of weird sex and violence--such as the scene in his Naked Lunch, based on the Burroughs book, where the guy is getting anally raped by an 8-foot high half-human, half-centipede creature (Ballard, take note). Well, I like his movies usually, but this one was pretty weird even for someone with Cronenberg's predilection for darkly disturbing themes, and it certainly stands out as one of the more bizarre films on the theme of sex and violence, or on the relationship between sex and violence.

*Irreverent scientific footnote:

And if humans think their sex has an element of violence in it--they should see how marine flatworms do it. It's called "penis fencing." The flatworms duel it out with their gigantic penises (eat your heart out, John "H." Holmes) and the first one to stab his big sharp dork through the skin of the other implants his sperm, causing the other flatworm to become pregnant and give birth whether he wants to or not. Biologists also think that these flatworms were the first multicellular animals to have sexual reproduction as we know it, which means that sex and violence have been linked ever since its earliest evolutionary origins.

*Irrevent literary footnote:

I was in a bookstore recently, and I opened up a book of Greek plays at random, and this was the first line I saw in a play by Euripides: "We are a group of men with large erections; we roam around the city, we take what we want."

It just goes to show you that those old flatworms and Greeks were on the right track, after all. (Ballard and Cronenberg, take note).

It makes me wonder.. Read more ›

36 of 42 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Definitely Different April 14, 2002

By Jeffrey Leach HALL OF FAMEVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

There are very few books in existence that I know of which can prepare you for Crash. Nauseatingly disgusting and beautiful at the same time, author Ballard tries to find redemption in technological malaise. This is the first book I've ever read by Ballard, but if his other works are similar to Crash, he should be better known than he is presently. I should also mention that I've never seen the film version of this book. Within a few pages, I realized why Cronenberg made this into a film. Cronenberg has made a name for himself exploring the same bleak landscapes that Ballard apparently works in: namely, the marriage between humanity and technology. Crash shares some attributes with Cronenberg's Videodrome, at least in my opinion. What is interesting is that Cronenberg didn't do a film version of Crash much sooner (Crash was published in 1973).

The second thing that hits the senses while reading Crash is the writing style. Cold, detached medical terms jockey with lovingly descriptive phrases concerning technology. Ballard is a magician with the English language and Crash is a first class spell in the syntax department. The first thing that is noticeable, of course, is the sickeningly gory descriptions of car crashes, wounds and ... sex. Chins will hit the floor over the sheer magnitude of blood and sex within these pages. But this isn't violence for the sake of violence; it is a careful constructed theme showing the awful repercussions that technology has wrought on our lives. ... The characters are dehumanized, without a doubt, but what Crash does is to show how humans are trying to reconnect to their emotions and humanity. That they choose to do so through the very means that has robbed them of it is the paradox.... All of the characters that see car crashes as erotic adventure are essentially lost people. Ballard and his wife Catherine engage in mindless affairs and word games because they have lost their humanity, their sense of being. Car crashes give them a means to attempt to assert some form of dominance over technology, and the fact that Vaughan has more scars than any of the others shows that he is much closer to achieving this than any of the others, explaining his hyper sexuality and dominant position in this group of crash aficionados.

Ballard brings the icons of technology into his story as well. Famous people such as Elizabeth Taylor, whom Vaughan wants to die with in a crash, are people most associated with technology. They are the faces we see in film and television, and could be seen as an organic face of technology. To meld with one of these figures in a crash is to go the extra step. Their death adds an extra dimension to the eroticism. It isn't just famous people that can bring this about. The character of Gabrielle is important in this context due to her leg braces and spinal supports. Gabrielle's organic existence, her very energy, is supported by technology. Ballard fantasizes about the metal braces and the special handles she needs in her car, explaining that they open up whole new avenues of eroticism.

Even though I can see the beauty of Ballard's prose work and understand his connections between technology and humans, this in no way means that this book didn't disgust me. My stomach occasionally does slow turns when I think back on a particular passage or event, and driving to work and school occasionally makes me feel queasy. The idea of imitating crash positions during ...intercourse isn't going to win over the chicks, either. This is a book that is tough to read but certainly worthwhile. Be careful about recommending this book to people. Some folks are bound to take it the wrong way. Read more ›

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Bloody brilliant. October 19, 1999

By Chris Cooley ([e-mail])

Format:Paperback

Apparently, quite a few readers might find a reading of Baudrillard's essay on this novel necessary to fully grasp what Ballard is talking about here. This is an existential exploration of life at the end of the 20th century, and how humanity finds meaning (rightly or wrongly) in it's technology. It's a highly complex read, and not for everyone.

One should realize that the sexuality described in the novel is not intended to be erotic, or for that matter "bad", or "destructive", or "dangerous"; it's transcendent. The brilliance of the work lies in Ballard's ability, like Burgess in _A Clockwork Orange_, to subvert the reader's feelings toward the subject matter, so that in the end one begins to actually understand -- even sympathize with -- the characters' behavior.

Ballard's prose here is, well... classic Ballard: languid, fever-dream language, which would act as a suitable substitute for LSD. He has one of the most unique "voices" I've ever come across, and is certainly an acquired taste, in relation to other, more mainstream (i.e., mostly unimportant) SF authors. Take a bite, though, and you may find yourself addicted.

_Crash_ is the literary equivilent of a brick to the head. I loved it.