Fourth Estate
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The definitive cult, post-modern novel - a shocking blend of violence, transgression and eroticism. When our narrator smashes his car into another and watches a man die in front of him, his sense of sexual possibilities in the world around him becomes detached. As he begins an affair with the dead man''s wife, he finds himself drawn with increasing intensity to the mangled impacts of car crashes. Then he encounters Robert Vaughan, a former TV scientist turned nightmare angel of the expressway, who has gathered around him a collection of alienated crash victims and experiments with a series of erotic 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 second half of the twentieth century and was made into an equally controversial film by David Cronenburg.
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Based on J. G. Ballard''s own childhood, this is the extraordinary account of a boy''s life in Japanese-occupied wartime Shanghai - a mesmerising, hypnotically compelling novel of war, of starvation and survival, of internment camps and death marches. It blends searing honesty with an almost hallucinatory vision of a world thrown utterly out of joint.
Rooted as it is in the author''s own disturbing experience of war in our time, it is one of a handful of novels by which the twentieth century will be not only remembered but judged. -
Based on J. G. Ballard''s own childhood, this is the extraordinary account of a boy''s life in Japanese-occupied wartime Shanghai - a mesmerising, hypnotically compelling novel of war, of starvation and survival, of internment camps and death marches. It blends searing honesty with an almost hallucinatory vision of a world thrown utterly out of joint. Rooted as it is in the author''s own disturbing experience of war in our time, it is one of a handful of novels by which the twentieth century will be not only remembered but judged. This edition is part of a new commemorative series of Ballard''s works, featuring introductions from a number of his admirers (including Adam Thirlwell, Hari Kunzru, James Lever and Ali Smith) and brand-new cover designs from the artist Stanley Donwood.
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This fast-paced narrative by the author of ''Crash'' and ''Empire of the Sun'' is a stunning evocation of a flooded, tropical London of the near future and a foray into the workings of the unconscious mind. Fluctuations in solar radiation have melted the ice caps, sending the planet into a new Triassic Age of unendurable heat. London is a swamp; lush tropical vegetation grows up the walls of the Ritz and primeval reptiles are sighted, swimming through the newly-formed lagoons. Some flee the capital; others remain to pursue reckless schemes, either in the name of science or profit. While the submerged streets of London are drained in search of treasure. Dr Robert Kerans - part of a group of intrepid scientists - comes to accept this submarine city and finds himself strangely resistant to the idea of saving it. First published in 1962, Ballard''s mesmerising and ferociously imaginative novel gained him widespread critical acclaim and established his reputation as one of Britain''s finest writers of science fiction. This edition is part of a new commemorative series of Ballard''s works, featuring introductions from a number of his admirers (including James Lever, Ali Smith, Hari Kunzru and Martin Amis) and brand-new cover designs.
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A prophetic and experimental masterpiece by J. G. Ballard, the acclaimed author of ''Crash'' and ''Super-Cannes''. This edition includes explanatory notes from the author. The irrational, all-pervading violence of the modern world is the subject of this extraordinary tour de force. The central character''s dreams are haunted by images of John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe, dead astronauts and car-crash victims as he traverses the screaming wastes of nervous breakdown. Seeking his sanity, he casts himself in a number of roles: H-bomber pilot, presidential assassin, crash victim, psychopath. Finally, through the black, perverse magic of violence he transcends his psychic turmoil to find the key to a bizarre new sexuality. In this revised edition, Ballard has added extensive annotation that help to unlock many of the mysteries of one of the most prophetic, enigmatic and original works of the late twentieth century. This edition is part of a new commemorative series of Ballard''s works, featuring introductions from a number of his admirers (including Neil Gaiman, Iain Sinclair, James Lever and Ali Smith) and brand-new cover designs.
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