The mise en abyme in The Drowned World by James G. Ballard
At the beginning of the 1960s, the New Wave of British science fiction sought to revitalise the genre by incorporating more contemporary themes (drugs, sex, criticism of consumerist society and the media) as well as new narrative and expressive formulas, with the aim of entering the mainstream. Jam...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Universidad de Zaragoza
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://papiro.unizar.es/ojs/index.php/misc/article/view/10824 |
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| author | Juan Varo Zafra |
| author_facet | Juan Varo Zafra |
| author_sort | Juan Varo Zafra |
| collection | DOAJ |
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At the beginning of the 1960s, the New Wave of British science fiction sought to revitalise the genre by incorporating more contemporary themes (drugs, sex,
criticism of consumerist society and the media) as well as new narrative and expressive formulas, with the aim of entering the mainstream. James G. Ballard was a forerunner of this trend thanks to a series of stories and experimental novels that embraced the worldviews of surrealism, situationism and nouveau roman. The mise en abyme, a recurring technique in this new body of work, was incorporated into the early novels by Ballard, a process which culminated with The Drowned World, in which the technique became highly complex. This article
examines the three cases of mise en abyme in the novel, beginning with a theoretical discussion of this literary device, adding a certain Heideggerian approach related to the image of the world in art. The article then goes on to analyze in detail the paintings that operate as mises en abyme in the novel, classifying them and reflecting on their relationship with the work as a whole and the reader, as well as the significance in the renewing context of science fiction of the decade.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-8a573217c7df4f9fba4b8e53f22a0631 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1137-6368 2386-4834 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | Universidad de Zaragoza |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies |
| spelling | doaj-art-8a573217c7df4f9fba4b8e53f22a06312025-08-20T02:35:57ZengUniversidad de ZaragozaMiscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies1137-63682386-48342025-06-017110.26754/ojs_misc/mj.202510824The mise en abyme in The Drowned World by James G. BallardJuan Varo Zafra0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6966-2158Universidad de Granada At the beginning of the 1960s, the New Wave of British science fiction sought to revitalise the genre by incorporating more contemporary themes (drugs, sex, criticism of consumerist society and the media) as well as new narrative and expressive formulas, with the aim of entering the mainstream. James G. Ballard was a forerunner of this trend thanks to a series of stories and experimental novels that embraced the worldviews of surrealism, situationism and nouveau roman. The mise en abyme, a recurring technique in this new body of work, was incorporated into the early novels by Ballard, a process which culminated with The Drowned World, in which the technique became highly complex. This article examines the three cases of mise en abyme in the novel, beginning with a theoretical discussion of this literary device, adding a certain Heideggerian approach related to the image of the world in art. The article then goes on to analyze in detail the paintings that operate as mises en abyme in the novel, classifying them and reflecting on their relationship with the work as a whole and the reader, as well as the significance in the renewing context of science fiction of the decade. https://papiro.unizar.es/ojs/index.php/misc/article/view/10824Ballardmise en abymeThe Drowned Worldscience fiction |
| spellingShingle | Juan Varo Zafra The mise en abyme in The Drowned World by James G. Ballard Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies Ballard mise en abyme The Drowned World science fiction |
| title | The mise en abyme in The Drowned World by James G. Ballard |
| title_full | The mise en abyme in The Drowned World by James G. Ballard |
| title_fullStr | The mise en abyme in The Drowned World by James G. Ballard |
| title_full_unstemmed | The mise en abyme in The Drowned World by James G. Ballard |
| title_short | The mise en abyme in The Drowned World by James G. Ballard |
| title_sort | mise en abyme in the drowned world by james g ballard |
| topic | Ballard mise en abyme The Drowned World science fiction |
| url | https://papiro.unizar.es/ojs/index.php/misc/article/view/10824 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT juanvarozafra themiseenabymeinthedrownedworldbyjamesgballard AT juanvarozafra miseenabymeinthedrownedworldbyjamesgballard |