The Mob: J. G. Ballard's Turn to the Collective

Evans, Joel

Abstract

The article identifies a shift in J. G. Ballard’s work from a preoccupation with the individual to a preoccupation with the collective. It reads Ballard’s late fiction as being part of a wider turn in the culture of Western, neoliberal states toward a reignition of a spirit of collectivism. With Ballard’s work, this is most striking in the novels’ depiction of neoliberal societies themselves, and so the essay begins with a treatment of how they are figured. What emerges from this is that Ballard’s depiction of potentially new collective forms of life is at once utopian and dystopian. In fact, the dystopian elements identified lead on to a much deeper trait of the work. This is the reactionary tendency to portray the collective as a violent mob, which, as is demonstrated, has a long history and an increasingly prominent present.

Citation

Evans, J. (2020). The Mob: J. G. Ballard's Turn to the Collective. Novel: A Forum on Fiction, 53(3), 436-451. https://doi.org/10.1215/00295132-8624624

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 30, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Nov 1, 2020
• Publication Date: Nov 1, 2020
• Deposit Date: Oct 5, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 1, 2020
• Journal: Novel: A forum on fiction
• Print ISSN: 0029-5132
• Electronic ISSN: 1945-8509
• Publisher: Duke University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 53
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 436-451
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/00295132-8624624
• Keywords: J. G. Ballard, collective, utopia, dystopia, mob
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1147962
• Publisher URL: https://read.dukeupress.edu/novel/article-abstract/53/3/436/167098/The-Mob-J-G-Ballard-s-Turn-to-the-Collective
• Contract Date: Oct 5, 2018