Geoff Ryman’s 253 (1998) as well as J.G. Ballard’s Concrete Island (1973) and Millennium People (2003) explore the difficult negotiation between two opposing concepts of bodies and places: as signs and as substantial entities. In these novels set on the London scene, the abstract space of capitalism finds its avatar in various forms of architectural planning. Urban/electronic design and commodity culture produce the subject’s textualisation, predetermination and legibility. These features are conveyed both mimetically and ironically according to the traditions of Dada and Pop Art. Yet, it is also true that some effective strategies are employed in these novels to subvert control by the system and disrupt the architectural armature imposed on the cityscape and human psyche alike. Within the confines of the surveillance society, pockets of opacity are disclosed to enable the aesthetics and practice of disappearance. In these surreal spaces, conventional categories of perception and knowledge are deconstructed through the experience of physical pain. This causes both bodies and places to finally rematerialise.

Negotiations with the system: J. G. Ballard and Geoff Ryman writing London's architecture

COLOMBINO, LAURA
2006-01-01

Abstract

Geoff Ryman’s 253 (1998) as well as J.G. Ballard’s Concrete Island (1973) and Millennium People (2003) explore the difficult negotiation between two opposing concepts of bodies and places: as signs and as substantial entities. In these novels set on the London scene, the abstract space of capitalism finds its avatar in various forms of architectural planning. Urban/electronic design and commodity culture produce the subject’s textualisation, predetermination and legibility. These features are conveyed both mimetically and ironically according to the traditions of Dada and Pop Art. Yet, it is also true that some effective strategies are employed in these novels to subvert control by the system and disrupt the architectural armature imposed on the cityscape and human psyche alike. Within the confines of the surveillance society, pockets of opacity are disclosed to enable the aesthetics and practice of disappearance. In these surreal spaces, conventional categories of perception and knowledge are deconstructed through the experience of physical pain. This causes both bodies and places to finally rematerialise.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11567/228123
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