Concrete Island. J. G. Ballard

      

      J. G. BALLARD

       Concrete Island

       Copyright

      This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

      Fourth Estate

      An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

       www.harpercollins.co.uk

      First published in Great Britain by Jonathan Cape Ltd 1974

      Copyright © J. G. Ballard 1974

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

      Introduction copyright © Neil Gaiman 2014

      ‘The Sage of Shepperton’ © Travis Elborough 2008

      Cover by Stanley Donwood

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

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books

      HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this e-book has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication

      Source ISBN: 9780007287048

      Ebook Edition © MARCH 2009 ISBN: 9780007321582

      Version: 2016-08-17

      Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

       Copyright

       Author’s Note

       Introduction by Neil Gaiman

       Chapter 1 – Through the crash barrier

Chapter 2 – The embankment

Chapter 3 – Injury and exhaustion

Chapter 4 – The water reservoir

Chapter 5 – The perimeter fence

       Chapter 6 – The rain-storm

       Chapter 7 – The burning car

       Chapter 8 – The messages

       Chapter 9 – Fever

       Chapter 10 – The air-raid shelter

       Chapter 11 – Rescue

       Chapter 12 – The acrobat

       Chapter 13 – The fire signal

       Chapter 14 – A taste of poison

       Chapter 15 – The bribe

       Chapter 16 – The food source

       Chapter 17 – The duel

       Chapter 18 – Five pounds

       Chapter 19 – Beast and rider

       Chapter 20 – The naming of the island

       Chapter 21 – Delirium

       Chapter 22 – The pavilion of doors

       Chapter 23 – The trapeze

       Chapter 24 – Escape

       Keep Reading

       The Sage of Shepperton

       About the Author

       By the Same Author

       About the Publisher

       Author’s Note

      The day-dream of being marooned on a desert island still has enormous appeal, however small our chances of actually finding ourselves stranded on a coral atoll in the pacific. But Robinson Crusoe was one of the first books we read as children, and the fantasy endures. There are all the fascinating problems of survival, and the task of setting up, as Crusoe did, a working replica of bourgeois society and its ample comforts. This is the desert island as adventure holiday. With a supplies-filled wreck lying conveniently on the nearest reef like a neighbourhood cash and carry.

      More seriously, there is the challenge of returning to our more primitive natures, stripped of the self-respect and the mental