Summary

Part IV: On the Bookshelf begins with an essay entitled “Crash by J.G. Ballard.” Smith opens with a memory of herself as a young British writer on a boat with J.G. Ballard. She remembers feeling uncomfortable, and notes the contrasts between their backgrounds. While Ballard was born “on the inside, to the colonial class,” she was “born on the outside of it all, was hell-bent on breaking in” (228).

Smith notes the dystopic elements that lie on the surface of Ballard’s work and marvels at his ability to predict later events, such as Princess Diana’s death. She remembers feeling scandalized the first time she read Ballard and admits that critics were partly correct in calling certain sections of his work pornographic...