The Atrocity Exhibition is Ballard's most controversial and challenging experimental novel. Between 1966 and 1969 Ballard published fifteen individual texts, or ‘condensed novels' across a wide range of avant-garde and literary magazines. In 1970, these fifteen stories were revised and collected as sections or ‘chapters' in the edition of The Atrocity Exhibition most commonly known to readers today. Controversial reviews of this collection led to a textual metamorphosis of another kind: ‘Why I want to Fuck Ronald Reagan'(1967) was the subject of an obscenity trial in England when it was published as a separate booklet by the American poet Bill Butler in 1968. Subsequently, the American publishers, Doubleday, withdrew the text before the first print run had been distributed, and it was not until two years later that The Atrocity Exhibition was resurrected, renamed -...
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Citation: Baxter, Jeannette. "The Atrocity Exhibition". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 October 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=1550, accessed 05 December 2025.]
