Crash by JG Ballard - Can porn make good literature?

JG Ballard's Crash takes readers into the dark and crazy world of sex in cars. It is page upon page of pornographic content. The strange thing is that Ballard is described as a genius. Zadie Smith has written about him, and he is studied in universities.

Pornography and literature often aren't associated with one another, but the moral divide seems to be blurring. Authors can no longer shy away from sex scenes. In a modern society where sex is everywhere, explicit in the music that we play, the films we watch, the advertisements that we drive by, why should it not be in the books that we read?

However pornography is still taboo. Can a book such as Ballard's Crash, which goes from one page to another streaming obscene language and frequent references to genitalia, be celebrated and held up as a piece of good fiction which aspiring authors can learn from, be inspired by, spurn new novels that pay homage to?

Fifty Shades of Grey burst into the world of fiction. It became the Da Vinci Code of today. Fifty Shades of Grey is pornography disguised as romance. How else can you describe a book that explores and delves in depth into sadomasochism? Whilst no one would claim it is in the league of Austen or Dickens or Woolf, does it have a place in the history of popular literature?

Books reflect the culture and world that we live in, and with the increased growth in the internet and pornography, the content of literature cannot remain in the realm of tea and cake. So we are exposed to material that may offend us and make us shake our heads in disbelief. But is that simply not what history has shown us, that there are stories and views that are not widely supported but somehow survive because they stand out? DH Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover was shocking in its day. Baudelaire caused controversy. They have withstood the harshest of critics - that lovely lady we call Time.

Ballard's Crash is not a book I can say that I enjoyed, but it is one that does stay with you, and one that you can't help but puzzle over and discuss, and whether it will be studied a hundred years from now and be considered an example of great literature for this period, well I guess that will be judged by time and future generations.