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

Evans, Joel

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Authors

JOEL EVANS JOEL.EVANS@NOTTINGHAM.AC.UK
Assistant Professor in Literature



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 Mar 28, 2024
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

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