The Crystal World - Crash - Concrete Island

by J.G. Ballard

J.G. Ballard has been hailed as "one of the most sensitive and enigmatic novelists of the present day" (The Times Literary Supplement). In his novels he weaves together nature, technology, sexual fantasies, and isolationism to create dark visions of humanity that are by turns repulsive and compelling, haunting and strangely beautiful.... Whether they explor the murky depths of human emotions or the majestic outer reaches of the cosmos, these three books show J.G. Ballard at his unparalleled best.

Genres: Science Fiction, British Literature, Fiction

610 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

James Graham "J. G." Ballard (15 November 1930 – 19 April 2009) was an English novelist, short story writer, and essayist. Ballard came to be associated with the New Wave of science fiction early in his career with apocalyptic (or post-apocalyptic) novels such as The Drowned World (1962), The Burning World (1964), and The Crystal World (1966). In the late 1960s and early 1970s Ballard focused on an eclectic variety of short stories (or "condensed novels") such as The Atrocity Exhibition (1970), which drew closer comparison with the work of postmodernist writers such as William S. Burroughs. In 1973 the highly controversial novel Crash was published, a story about symphorophilia and car crash fetishism; the protagonist becomes sexually aroused by staging and participating in real car crashes. The story was later adapted into a film of the same name by Canadian director David Cronenberg.

While many of Ballard's stories are thematically and narratively unusual, he is perhaps best known for his relatively conventional war novel, Empire of the Sun (1984), a semi-autobiographical account of a young boy's experiences in Shanghai during the Second Sino-Japanese War as it came to be occupied by the Japanese Imperial Army. Described as "The best British novel about the Second World War" by The Guardian, the story was adapted into a 1987 film by Steven Spielberg.

The literary distinctiveness of Ballard's work has given rise to the adjective "Ballardian", defined by the Collins English Dictionary as "resembling or suggestive of the conditions described in J. G. Ballard's novels and stories, especially dystopian modernity, bleak man-made landscapes and the psychological effects of technological, social or environmental developments." The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry describes Ballard's work as being occupied with "eros, thanatos, mass media and emergent technologies".

Reviews

[Crito]

I'm rating these separately, but I just wanted to report how this volume astonishes me. The obvious thematic trilogy is Crash - Concrete Island - High-Rise, and indeed in the art you have car crashes, overpasses, and high-rises. But for some reason (publishing: High-Rise never had an FSG edition) they had to use The Crystal World, from a separate thematic trilogy, instead. So the artist instead went with "uhh, polygon trees? pointy city or something idk." Incredible stuff.

[Kent Newcome · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just finished reading the third of the three short novels in this very fine single edition of Ballard's classic techno-trash. Obviously, the publisher was thoughtful in the order of the presentation. By putting "The Crystal World" first, the reader unawares of the sick and twisted world of Ballard, concludes, "What's the big deal. I can handle this guy." Here is a straight up Sci-Fi disaster story with memorable images, likeable and understandable good guys, bad guys, and interesting women in an exotic jungle setting with violence coming from human, plant, animal, plague and the final fusing of them all in a sparkling mix. Interesting twists and turns in a heart of darkness theme park. It's conventional story-telling, entertaining but not taxing. Where's the beef? So the reader simply turns the last page of the Crystal World and OMG. I liken reading "Crash" to being beaten in the intellect by a blunt object. The work has been reviewed numerous times as a stand alone novel but the interesting aspect of reading it as the second central panel of this triptych is in its strange ability to stand apart yet blend into its neighbors. "Crash" is painful. The transformation of human into crystal in the first novel is caused by forces beyond human control. The force that fuses human into machine is human, all to human as Nietzsche describes it. Some reviews have commented on the writing style and the redundency in the language as poor writing. I respectfully disagree. The style and redundency is so mechanical that the words pound, strike, beat the reader down with harsh words and harsher images. Ballard tries to prove wrong the saying that sticks and stones will break you bones but words can never hurt you. He tries and somewaht succeeds in making the reader question this age old wisdom. So it is with relieve that the reader can turn the page and hope to find salvation on the Concrete Island. It, too, starts with a automobile crash, but somehow I knew this hero (because I so much want this new character to be heroic)will not fuse with the machine. And he does not. So I read on hoping for redemption and...and...(I won't spoil it for you.) If you have not read any Ballard, I highly encourage you to start with this unholy trinity.