BALLARD, J.G. Crash.

BALLARD, J.G. Crash.BALLARD, J. G. Crash. London: Jonathan Cape. 1973. 8vo. Green paper wrappers with black lettering to spine; printed draft of publisher's description affixed to half title; pp. [4], 224; slight discolouration on front cover and to top and side of template; minor bruising to spine, revisions and annotations in ink to pp. 53 & 59, 108 & 109, 124 & 125 126 127 & 200. The published work deletes the exclamation mark in the title of the proof, and the

BALLARD, J.G. Crash. London: Jonathan Cape. 1973.

8vo. Green paper wrappers with black lettering to spine; printed draft of publisher's description affixed to half title; pp. [4], 224; slight discolouration on front cover and to top and side of template; minor bruising to spine, revisions and annotations in ink to pp. 53 & 59, 108 & 109, 124 & 125/126/127 & 200. The published work deletes the exclamation mark in the title of the proof, and the description affixed to the half title was revised before publication.

A copy of the UK proof edition, this copy with a number of manuscript revisions, seemingly in the author's hand, which do not appear in published versions of the novel.

A controversial work exploring the experiences of a group of car-crash fetishists, sexually aroused by staging and participating in car accidents. Unsurprisingly, opinion was highly divided upon publication, the New York Times reviewer declaring the novel "hands-down, the most repulsive book I've yet to come across" and another returning the verdict "This author is beyond psychiatric help. Do Not Publish!".

Ballard wrote of the work: "Throughout Crash I have used the car not only as a sexual image, but as a total metaphor for man's life in today's society. As such the novel has a political role quite apart from its sexual content, but I would still like to think that Crash is the first pornographic novel based on technology. In a sense, pornography is the most political form of fiction, dealing with how we use and exploit each other in the most urgent and ruthless way. Needless to say, the ultimate role of Crash is cautionary, a warning against that brutal, erotic and overlit realm that beckons more and more persuasively to us from the margins of the technological landscape."

Provenance: This copy comes from the library of Martin Bax (1959-2023), founding editor of the poetry and arts magazine Ambit, to which Ballard occasionally contributed.

SKU: 2120265