The Definitive Cult, Postmodern Novel--a Shocking Blend of Violence,
Transgression, and Eroticism
Reissued with a New Introduction from Zadie Smith
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.