The Crystal World

The Crystal World
Robert MacFarlane

J. G. Ballard

From J. G. Ballard, author of ‘Crash’ and ‘Cocaine Nights’ comes his extraordinary vision of an African forest that turns all in its path to crystal.Through a ‘leaking’ of time, the West African jungle starts to crystallize. Trees metamorphose into enormous jewels. Crocodiles encased in second glittering skins lurch down the river. Pythons with huge blind gemstone eyes rear in heraldic poses. Most flee the area in terror, afraid to face a catastrophe they cannot understand.But some, dazzled and strangely entranced, remain to drift through this dreamworld forest: a doctor in pursuit of his ex-mistress, an enigmatic Jesuit wielding a crystal cross and a tribe of lepers searching for Paradise.In this tour de force of the imagination, Ballard transports the reader into one of his most unforgettable landscapes.

J. G. Ballard

The Crystal World

Copyright (#u8367235d-7924-5e01-bd9e-0f689e87e7e0)

Fourth Estate

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.4thestate.co.uk (http://4thestate.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain by Jonathan Cape Ltd 1966

Copyright © J. G. Ballard 1966

PS™ Section interview copyright © Vanora Bennett 2004

Article ‘Ballard’s Worlds’ originally ‘J G Ballard’ from Visiting Mrs Nabokov by Martin Amis, published by Vintage. Reprinted by permission of The Random House Group Ltd.

PS™ is a trademark of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

J. G. Ballard asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of either the author or the publisher

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Source ISBN:9780586024195

Ebook Edition © JUNE 2012 ISBN: 9780007374892

Version: 2018-06-05

Epigraph (#u8367235d-7924-5e01-bd9e-0f689e87e7e0)

By day fantastic birds flew through the petrified forest, and jewelled crocodiles glittered like heraldic salamanders on the banks of the crystalline river.

By night the illuminated man raced among the trees, his arms like golden cartwheels, his head like a spectral crown…

CONTENTS

Cover (#ue8bfdc21-bbf9-5553-81bf-f3b639ee001c)

Title Page (#u0705d952-4518-5bc8-b766-4e44e946fe64)

Copyright

Epigraph

Part One: EQUINOX

CHAPTER ONE: THE DARK RIVER

CHAPTER TWO: THE JEWELLED ORCHID

CHAPTER THREE: MULATTO ON THE CATWALKS

CHAPTER FOUR: A DROWNED MAN

CHAPTER FIVE: THE CRYSTALLIZED FOREST

CHAPTER SIX: THE CRASH

Part Two: THE ILLUMINATED MAN

CHAPTER SEVEN: MIRRORS AND ASSASSINS

CHAPTER EIGHT: THE SUMMER-HOUSE

CHAPTER NINE: SERENA

CHAPTER TEN: THE MASK

CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE WHITE HOTEL

CHAPTER TWELVE: DUEL WITH A CROCODILE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: SARABAND FOR LEPERS

THE PRISMATIC SUN

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P. S. Ideas, interviews & features…

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About the Publisher

Part One (#u8367235d-7924-5e01-bd9e-0f689e87e7e0)