The Poet of Decay and Psychic Entropy: The Intersection of Surrealism and Science in J. G. Ballard’s Fiction

Images of decay, both psychological and physical, permeate much of J.G. Ballard’s fiction, creating in effect a unique aesthetic that has acquired the eponymous description “ballardian.” This imagery, stemming from the surrealist tradition, is more than aesthetic affectation; it is, as this article...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Academic Journal of Modern Philology no. 14; pp. 337 - 346
Main Author: Tereszewski, Marcin
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Committee for Philology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Wrocław Branch 2021
Komisja Nauk Filologicznych Oddziału Polskiej Akademii Nauk we Wrocławiu
Subjects:
Language and Literature Studies
Language studies
Literary Texts
Philology
decay
entropy
J G Ballard
surrealism
ISSN:2299-7164, 2353-3218
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Images of decay, both psychological and physical, permeate much of J.G. Ballard’s fiction, creating in effect a unique aesthetic that has acquired the eponymous description “ballardian.” This imagery, stemming from the surrealist tradition, is more than aesthetic affectation; it is, as this article argues, the manifestation of an eschatological theme underlying much of New Wave science fiction. This article also addresses how scientific discourse, especially references to entropy, and surrealist aesthetics intersect in his novels (High-Rise and The Drowned World) to provide a metaphor for Ballard’s frequent use of decay imagery. Though the surrealist component of his imagination has been well documented, what still invites closer scrutiny are the ideological assumptions linking Ballard’s incorporation of surrealism with the work of other surrealists and the way Ballard develops this theme for his own purposes
ISSN:2299-7164
2353-3218