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J. G. Ballard
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Crash: Deluxe Edition Hardcover – July 23, 2019

by J. G. Ballard (Author), Zadie Smith (Introduction)
4.0 out of 5 stars 713
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Featuring an introduction by Zadie Smith; "Jim's Desk" and introductory notes by Chris Beckett
The short stories "Crash," "Tolerances of the Human Face," and "Mae West's Reduction Mammoplasty" by J. G. Ballard
Treatments and letters about the BBC2 Review short film about J. G. Ballard titled "Crash!" that aired in February 1971
Introduction to the French edition of Crash
An excerpt of an interview with Will Self and J. G. Ballard from 1994

When J. G. Ballard, our narrator, smashes his car into another and watches a man die in front of him, he finds himself drawn with increasing intensity to the mangled impacts of car crashes. Robert Vaughan, a former TV scientist turned nightmare angel of the expressway, has gathered around him a collection of alienated crash victims and experiments with a series of autoerotic atrocities, each more sinister than the last. But Vaughan craves the ultimate crash―a head-on collision of blood, semen, engine coolant, and iconic celebrity.

First published in 1973, Crash remains one of the most shocking novels of the twentieth century and was made into an equally controversial film by David Cronenberg.
Previous page
  1. Print length
    352 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Rare Bird Books, A Vireo Book
  4. Publication date
    July 23, 2019
  5. Dimensions
    6.1 x 1.2 x 8.9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1947856960
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1947856967
  8. See all details
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The Amazon Book Review
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Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"In Ballard the dystopia is not hidden under anything. Nor is it (as with so many fictional dystopias) a vision of the future. It is not the subtext. It is the text...."
―Zadie Smith, The New York Review of Books

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

"Crash sensationally and scintillatingly succeeds."
―Martin Amis

"The last great English avatar of the avant-garde."
―Will Self

About the Author

J. G. Ballard was born in 1930 in Shanghai. After internment in a civilian prison camp, his family returned to England in 1946. His 1984 bestseller Empire of the Sun won the Guardian Fiction Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. His controversial novel Crash was made into a film by David Cronenberg. His autobiography Miracles of Life was published in 2008, and a collection of interviews with the author, Extreme Metaphors, was published in 2012. J. G. Ballard passed away in 2009.

Zadie Smith is the author of the novels White Teeth, The Autograph Man, On Beauty, NW, and Swing Time, as well as a collection of essays, Changing My Mind.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Rare Bird Books, A Vireo Book; Deluxe, Reprint edition (July 23, 2019)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1947856960
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1947856967
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.25 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.1 x 1.2 x 8.9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 out of 5 stars 713

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J. G. Ballard

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Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5
713 global ratings
ballard, crash, 1970's, controversy
5 Stars
ballard, crash, 1970's, controversy
In the 1970's, J G Ballard focused on controversial themes of sex, excess, and nightmarish scenes that disturbs the reader four decades or more later. From "High Rise", (1975); to "The Atrocity Exhibition", (1972). "Crash', is about Ballard, who is turned on by car crashes, as he meets various people: Vaughn, (a man who fuses technology is sex), while the characters over-indulge in behaviour that makes it an uncomfortable read. It is world's away from "The Drowned World", (1962), Ballard's science-fiction novel, to the well-known autobiographical "Empire of the Sun", (1984), (filmed by Steven Spielberg in 1987)."Crash", which was filmed in Canada by David Cronenberg in 1996, translates the novel to be a romantic thrill-ride that is hit-and miss with James Spader, Holly Hunter, and Rosanna Arquette. In short, "Crash" is a dazzling, futuristic, and voyeuristic book, that couldn't be written today, (in 2019). But it is an important book to read, as is all of Ballard's work before and after "Crash" ends at just over two hundred pages or so.
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Top reviews from the United States

Robert Helliger
5.0 out of 5 stars ballard, crash, 1970's, controversy
Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2019
Verified Purchase
In the 1970's, J G Ballard focused on controversial themes of sex, excess, and nightmarish scenes that disturbs the reader four decades or more later. From "High Rise", (1975); to "The Atrocity Exhibition", (1972). "Crash', is about Ballard, who is turned on by car crashes, as he meets various people: Vaughn, (a man who fuses technology is sex), while the characters over-indulge in behaviour that makes it an uncomfortable read. It is world's away from "The Drowned World", (1962), Ballard's science-fiction novel, to the well-known autobiographical "Empire of the Sun", (1984), (filmed by Steven Spielberg in 1987).

"Crash", which was filmed in Canada by David Cronenberg in 1996, translates the novel to be a romantic thrill-ride that is hit-and miss with James Spader, Holly Hunter, and Rosanna Arquette. In short, "Crash" is a dazzling, futuristic, and voyeuristic book, that couldn't be written today, (in 2019). But it is an important book to read, as is all of Ballard's work before and after "Crash" ends at just over two hundred pages or so.
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Robert Helliger
5.0 out of 5 stars ballard, crash, 1970's, controversy
Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2019
In the 1970's, J G Ballard focused on controversial themes of sex, excess, and nightmarish scenes that disturbs the reader four decades or more later. From "High Rise", (1975); to "The Atrocity Exhibition", (1972). "Crash', is about Ballard, who is turned on by car crashes, as he meets various people: Vaughn, (a man who fuses technology is sex), while the characters over-indulge in behaviour that makes it an uncomfortable read. It is world's away from "The Drowned World", (1962), Ballard's science-fiction novel, to the well-known autobiographical "Empire of the Sun", (1984), (filmed by Steven Spielberg in 1987).

"Crash", which was filmed in Canada by David Cronenberg in 1996, translates the novel to be a romantic thrill-ride that is hit-and miss with James Spader, Holly Hunter, and Rosanna Arquette. In short, "Crash" is a dazzling, futuristic, and voyeuristic book, that couldn't be written today, (in 2019). But it is an important book to read, as is all of Ballard's work before and after "Crash" ends at just over two hundred pages or so.
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7 people found this helpful
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Luc Archambault
5.0 out of 5 stars Important quasi-sf book about the birth of the man-machine
Reviewed in the United States on April 11, 2015
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A important book, but nothing compared to the great film adaptation by David Cronenberg. A lot of words do not amount to magnificent images... but the ideas are all there. It really takes a vivid imagination like Cronenberg to see past the smut and the mundaneness...
3 people found this helpful
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James
4.0 out of 5 stars I would love to say....
Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2009
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I would love to say that this was a fascinating warning against our ever growing dependence on technology and how it has changed us to were we are more connected to the inanimate than the animate. I would love to say that this book was an extraordinary work of provocative literary fiction and how it made me think and challenged my views on sexuality and the world around me.... But I can't. Because this book was an amazing, hard to put down, unbelieveably graphic, in depth, fantasized look at people with car-crash-fetishes.

James Ballard a director (I think) of commercials gets into a serious car accident that kills the driver of the other vehicle involved and forever changes James and the victim's wife. Through the strange and sometimes dangerous eyes of a deranged man, Dr. Robert Vaughn, who also had long ago been in a life altering crash, they discover the sexuality of the pairing of their bodies with automobiles and the eroticism of car crashes. (I'm pretty sure others who are die-hard fans of this book will scoff at my paultry description of the book, but that's basically what this book is about.)

I enjoyed the book because it was different-- definitely an alternative in eroticism-- and gave me a glimpse of how people react differently to tragedies or the unthinkable. I can't say I walked away from the book with a more enlightened view of anything, but I can say I walked away with satisfaction.

The only complaint I have is the tone of the book: It was monotone. There were so many instances in the book were I knew I needed to feel something-- astonishment, horror, grief, lust-- but they were lost in the one page long, overly detailed, paragraphs. I have read 100 Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera so I am familiar with this type of style but I think for this book empahsis-- ie. shorter paragraphs-- were needed to punctuate the scenes. And his switches in scenes and times of day and character actions completely threw me off because they were not actually stated. It was more of an aftethought. The author's main focus was telling the story and making sure the reader understood that there was semen *everywhere* and vulvas being penetrated constantly. Sounds a bit much for a review, right? Read the book and you'll see that what I said was practically G-Rated.

All in all... good book.
10 people found this helpful
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dough mahoney
5.0 out of 5 stars 8=D
Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2015
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more like trash
One person found this helpful
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Todd
3.0 out of 5 stars Too much lingering on the gory details distracts from the plot
Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2019
Verified Purchase
Not as fun to read as high-rise. It’s annoying how it goes on and on about graphic details, dragging it. Haven’t read too far into it because I just can’t bear the thought of subjecting myself to those details. Author used the word “chromium” way more than the average writer. Maybe it gets better later on, but I will probably never find out.
4 people found this helpful
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Action Raccoon 79
1.0 out of 5 stars Car Crashes & Sex Do NOT Mix Well!
Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2017
Verified Purchase
I like Ballard's work but don't know what he saw in Crash. I can't wrap my brain around the idea of a person who suddenly becomes obsessed with getting into massive car wrecks, having sex with any women he can find and lots of masturbating. I find it hard that the main character who nearly got killed by his own friend, stole his own car crashing it then nearly killing his wife for the act of wanting him to get involved in this messed up fetish is so hard to believe. Also won't the police be keeping track of the guy's driving record? I mean if you get into too many wrecks they'll take that licence away if they feel your a threat to everyone outs on the road.

Maybe if the book was about a bunch of people who do dangerous car stunts which involves them getting into wrecks that I could understand but this is just total BS! It's unrealistic and I find it gross that wounds from these car wrecks would turn women on. Again total BS!
One person found this helpful
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Maria l.
5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely brilliant
Reviewed in Italy on September 12, 2019
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One of my favourite novels in a gorgeous edition
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5.0 out of 5 stars Diana
Reviewed in Mexico on February 10, 2017
Verified Purchase
Las veces que he solicitado algo siempre he teñido información inmediata sobre mi
Pedido cintos etc Es un servicio excelente
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Toni
5.0 out of 5 stars Weird twisted book. Fantastic
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 9, 2017
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Ballard is a weird man and Crash is a bizarre, sexual, depraved story. The man character (who shares his name with the author) is in a loveless marriage and stable job when he gets into a severe car accident. The accident serves as his sexual awakening, and he is introduced to a group of people whose sexual fantasies revolve around car accidents, wounds, bodily fluids and metal.

If anyone asks me in real life what this book is about, I tell them it's car crash porn, and that's not an exaggeration or understatement. It's well written and enjoyable, but it's the only book I have ever taken breaks from. Sometimes I need a minute (or day) to accept the things I just saw happen and reflect on my life. Worth a read though.
6 people found this helpful
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lory
5.0 out of 5 stars La psychopathologie de la collision
Reviewed in France on June 14, 2015
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Outrageux, obscène, pervers: voilà ce qu'on dit de ce roman dès sa parution. C'est tout vrai. La découverte d'un univers sexuel parmi les tôles froissées des voitures, le désir excité par les cicatrices et les douleurs des accidents de la route: les protagonistes de cette terrible métaphore postmoderne explorent les coins obscurs de leur sensualité. Le message qu'on tire est une des révélations prophétiques de Ballard: l' artificialité de nos existances nous prive tellement du contact physique avec la réalité, qu'on désire la collision pour ressentir quelque chose.
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Peter Simon Jones
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant
Reviewed in Japan on December 13, 2012
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That words become changed over time, their over-use contributing to the dilution of the potency which they once held is an altogether sad truism. This combined with the inarticulate nature of 'modern' speech often means that it is very hard to praise a work (such as this) because the lexicon we once reserved for greatness and the expression thereof, no longer retains any power, certainly not the power one wishes to convey in this instance.

If one were to consider a single word to describe this immensely important work, I would choose the word 'brilliant' - not as per youf speak i.e. "Vat's brilliant innit,' rather brilliant as in bright, crystalline, full of light; shining, strong saturation, sharp and clear in tone, finely cut with numerous facets - that brilliant.

As with any text of a supposedly 'challenging' nature the real test of a work such as this lies in the reaction it draws out and elicits from its audience. It is safe to say that a good barometer of sublimity is evident in the negative reaction the work draws out of society; the greater the reaction of faux 'shock' and 'horror' the more important and relevant the work - I think here of Easton Ellis' 'American Psycho' as another fine example where the inverted shock to brilliance ratio once again proves itself accurate. Crash, like Psycho represents a divine mirror of truth, maturity, understanding and intellect and leaves the reader with no doubt about their level of intellectual faculty and personal growth.

I think it would not be an overestimation to state that both Crash and Ballard are enormously under-appreciated, under-recognized and under-regarded in their obvious contribution to modern Literature - certainly modern English Literature. As Baudrillard alluded to in Simulacra and Simulation, where he devoted an entire chapter (rare occurrence) to penning praise for crash, Ballard was really so very far ahead of the postmodern curve than most writers or thinkers, and has consistently been one of the few prophetic visionaries whose fantasies have, for the most part come to fruition.

An excellent book, totally worth the investment of both your time and your money.
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