The Atrocity Exhibition (Flamingo Modern Classics)
by J.G. Ballard
List Price:
Our Price: $7.48
You Save: $9.02 (55%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: J.G. BallardPreface: William S. Burroughs
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown)
Published: 2001-05-21
ISBN: 0007116861
Number of pages: 192
Publisher: Flamingo
Book Reviews of The Atrocity Exhibition (Flamingo Modern Classics)
Book Review: Your ticket to utter perversity...
Summary: 5 Stars
*The Atrocity Exhibition* is a book so radically original in concept and execution it renders itself resistant to practically any attempt to rate it by ordinary standards. Lacking both conventional plot and characterization, bearing a structure closely resembling collage, and a syntax that sometimes seems to slip into a style reminiscent of automatic writing and word association, one might make the case that *Atrocity* is neither novel nor novella, neither entirely fiction nor entirely nonfiction--indeed, *The Atrocity Exhibition* represents a text outside any established genre whatsoever and therefore against what standard can you judge it, except, perhaps, the only relevant one: is it worth reading?
It is.
What you have here, basically, is a sort of literary assemblage loosely radiating around a dense gravitational core of obsessions--cultural, sexual, and psychological representative of the postmodern countdown to the anti-climactic nothing that took the place of the apocalypse we'd all been expecting.
The JFK assassination, the media representation of iconic Hollywood stars, the Vietnam war, the geometric sterility of highways and car parks, and the mythology of the American automobile as a symbol of speed, consumerism, sexuality, and the allure of violent death are some of the structuring themes around which *The Atrocity Exhibition* is built. Fans--or detractors--of Ballard's controversial *Crash* will find much of that later work prefigured here, but *The Atrocity Exhibition* is far more atrocious, far more deliciously tasteless than *Crash*, which, by comparison, now seems almost a "mainstream" novel.
Composed in an often flat, documentary style purposely reminiscent of a scientific paper, which, at times, it ostensibly is, *The Atrocity Exhibition* is one of the more extreme transgressive texts by a well-known author you're likely to read. In great part because Ballard employs real-life celebrities and historical personages as the victims of his x-rated brand of stylized violence and because of the matter-of-fact delivery of even the most outrageous sexual and political theories, the effect of *The Atrocity Exhibition* is in many ways even more shocking than, say, Burroughs's *Naked Lunch.* Ballard's fictional characters move through a surrealistic landscape of constantly shifting, never resolved, but always ominous aura, the borders between sanity and insanity, simulation and reality, fiction and fact open to interpretation. Is Ballard serious? Does he really mean the things he's saying? What's so disturbing is that one has to ask the question at all. There's a certain psychopathic truth to even the most radically insane theories proposed in *The Atrocity Exhibition,* the kind of simulacra of "truth" that is often inextricably wound into the schizophrenic rant of the insane. Is it possible that reality itself can't be rationally explained without recourse to insanity?
In this edition, Ballard has contributed sidebar annotations which are often every bit as thought-provoking as the text itself. Written from a perspective nearly three decades after the initial publication of *Atrocity,* Ballard's notes illuminate much of the circumstances and influences that inspired the text. It's striking how prescient Ballard was about events and trends that would eventually come to pass and how spot-on were his satiric takes on politics, media, war, and sex. *The Atrocity Exhibition* often reads like a prophetic text from an earlier time that eerily describes, even at its blackest, our obscene present--a sort of postmodern "Book of Revelation."
Hardly what one would call an "easy read," *The Atrocity Exhibition* requires attention and patience as well as a taste for experimentation and a connoisseur's palate for perversity. This book offers a feast for such readers, comparable to those super-exclusive restaurants of urban legend that serve Heart of Lion Medallions or Broasted Leg of B-movie Starlet--hard to find establishments, all-but-impossible to get into, certainly not for the hoi-polloi, but well worth the price of admission if nothing else can satisfy your jaded appetite. You've been warned. Here's your invitation to the Exhibition. Enjoy.
Summary of The Atrocity Exhibition (Flamingo Modern Classics)
The Atrocity Exhibition is J.G. Ballard's most complex, disturbing work, with fabulous photos by Ana Barrado and artwork by Phoebe Gloeckner.Easily one of the 20th century's most visionary writers, J. G. Ballard still lives far ahead of his time. Called his "prophetic masterpiece" by many, The Atrocity Exhibition practically lies outside of any literary tradition. Part science fiction, part eerie historical fiction, part pornography, its characters adhere to no rules of linearity or stability. This reissued edition features an introduction by William S. Burroughs, extensive text commentary by Ballard, and four additional stories. Of specific interest are the illustrations by underground cartoonist and professional medical illustrator Phoebe Gloeckner. Her ultrarealistic images of eroticism and destruction add an important dimension to Ballard's text.
Ballard, J.G. Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Ballard, J.G. Books
Empire of the Sun (Panther Books)by J. G. Ballard
Grafton; Published: 1985-08-29; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $55.05
The Complete Short Storiesby J.G. Ballard
Flamingo; Published: 2002-11-04; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
The Droughtby J. G. Ballard
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1977-05-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $36.69
The Terminal Beachby J.G. Ballard
Gollancz; Published: 1985-01; Hardcover; Book
Millennium Peopleby J.G. Ballard
HarperPerennial; Published: 2004-06-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.58
Price in other shops:
J.G. Ballard Conversationsby J.G. Ballard
Re/Search Publications; Published: 2005-08-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.04
Price in other shops:
War Feverby J. G. Ballard
ISIS Audio Books; Published: 1998-04; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $54.95
Vermilion Sandsby J. G. Ballard
Carroll & Graf Publishers; Published: 1988-08; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
Pranks: Re/ Search, No 11 (Re/ Search, No. 11)V/Search; Published: 1987-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $49.95
J.G. Ballard: Quotesby J.G. Ballard
Re/Search Publications; Published: 2004-11-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.99
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
The Kindness of Women: A Novelby J. G. Ballard
Picador; Published: 2007-11-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.40
Price in other shops:
Naked Lunch: The Restored Textby William S. Burroughs
Grove Press; Published: 2004-01-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.65
Price in other shops:
The Crystal Worldby J. G. Ballard
Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Published: 1988-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.74
Price in other shops:
Empire of the Sunby J. G. Ballard
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2005-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.26
Price in other shops:
Cocaine Nightsby J. G. Ballard
Counterpoint; Published: 1999-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.00
Price in other shops:
Super-Cannes: A Novelby J. G. Ballard
Picador; Published: 2002-10-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.97
Price in other shops:
High Rise (Flamingo Modern Classic)by J.G. Ballard
Firebird Distributing; Published: 1998-01-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $52.72
Concrete Island: A Novelby J. G. Ballard
Picador; Published: 2001-10-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.26
Price in other shops:
The Best Short Stories of J. G. Ballardby J. G. Ballard
Picador; Published: 2001-07-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.08
Price in other shops:
Crash: A Novelby J. G. Ballard
Picador; Published: 2001-10-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.00
Price in other shops: