NIHILISM, SELF-TRANSCENDENCE AND ABJECTION IN J.G. BALLARD’S CRASH

Abstract

This essay focuses on the explanation of some of the aspects of plot and characterisation in J.G. Ballard’s novel Crash (1973) by drawing analogies with its postmodern cultural background. The fundamental idea is the characters’ wish to transcend both the reductive nihilism of a society whose value system is dominated by performativity, and the limitations of the human condition, starting with the self and the body. Their journey will be fraught with the danger of complete nihilism as it implies giving in to the death drive. In the end, this submission will strand them in abjection and abhumanity.