Reconciling your self: individuation and ontological ambiguity in J.G. Ballard's The Empire of the Sun and The Drowned World

Vol.43,No.2(2017)

Marcin Tereszewski

https://doi.org/10.5817/BSE2017-2-9

Stable URL (handle):
http://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/137613

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Abstract
This article explores the multifaceted ways in which J. G. Ballard's work grapples with the problematics of the self and its codependency with ideological representation. One of the most interesting critical contexts which sheds light on this theme is Jungian psychology, which also happened to wield considerable influence on New Wave writers during the 1960s, and it is especially Jung's notion of individuation that is of relevance in regards to the particularly ambiguous relationship Ballardian protagonists have with exterior reality. It is the contention of this article that acceptance of the inherently fictional and textual nature of the depicted exterior reality is a prerequisite for individuation to take place. What this means is that two seemingly incompatible discourses, that of Jungian psychoanalysis and postmodernism, can be seen to share a certain liberatory theme that can be found in Ballard's novels. This is a contention that will be developed in an analysis of Ballard's The Empire of the Sun and The Drowned World.

Keywords:
Ballard; Jung; individuation; postmodernism

Pages:
165–178
References

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