J.G. Ballard's Surrealist Liberalism

Source: J. G. Ballard’s Surrealist Liberalism - Duncan Bell, 2021

Introduction

This article provides a comprehensive analysis of the political vision that can be discerned throughout the work of influential author J.G. Ballard. The key argument is that Ballard developed a unique version of liberalism that was grounded in insights from surrealism and Freudian psychoanalysis.

Some of the main claims that the article makes about Ballard's liberalism include:

• It was based on a conception of human nature as inherently dangerous and irrational.

• It viewed social reality and consensus reality as fragile and illusory.

• It saw the imagination as both necessary for human flourishing but also a potential source of violence and cruelty.

The article conducts a detailed examination of Ballard's major works like Empire of the Sun and The Kindness of Women to extract the political arguments implicit within them. It also analyzes Ballard's voluminous interviews and essays to fully reconstruct his multifaceted position.

Human Nature and Social Reality

This section analyzes Ballard's developmental influences and shows how his experience of World War 2 and time in a Japanese internment camp shaped his outlook. It explores how encounters with surrealism and Freud led Ballard to adopt psychoanalytical concepts.

Key points discussed include:

• Ballard's belief that humans have strong aggressive and violent instincts due to evolutionary pressures.

• His view that reason is limited and the unconscious/irrational plays a bigger role in human behaviour.

• The idea that social reality and consensus views of the world are partial and unstable constructions that mask deeper unconscious drivers.

• How Empire of the Sun and The Kindness of Women dramatize these perspectives through their portrayals of mental trauma and societal breakdown.

The Ambivalent Powers of Imagination

This section focuses on Ballard's thought around the imagination. It notes that for Ballard, the imagination:

• Is necessary for human freedom and flourishing

• But is also a potential source of cruelty, violence and psychopathology if unchecked or unduly repressed

• Plays a role in both constructing social reality and driving societal change

• Was given new potency and dangers by emerging media and technology

The section also discusses Ballard's generally libertarian views around censorship and repression.

Critique of Late Capitalism

The final section explores how Ballard's later works increasingly critiqued neoliberal capitalism. It shows how he believed consumerism had:

• Generated new forms of passive obedience, boredom and anomie

• Hollowed out the public sphere and democracy

• Exacerbated human competitiveness, inequality and the death of affect

Novels like Kingdom Come diagnose the risks of a new soft fascism emerging from these dynamics, while also noting the limits of Ballard's primarily individualistic responses.

I wonder how surrealism could be connected to an Islamicate understanding of the sacred absurd by invoking the concept of the ghurabah (strangers)? The stranger from an Islamic perspective acts with the knowledge that existing social institutions and contrived moral judgements that shift in constant flux with the evolving pathogen of liberalism are ultimately all fake. There is a recognition about the fakeness and illusory nature of dunya and the only Real that exists is action under the direct gaze of God. There is a lot to think about how Islamicate critiques can build and expand on Ballardian deconstructionism in more productive avenues that offer at least on a personal and perhaps even a communal level viable alternatives.

I think the idea of bored passive populations coached into obedience amidst a deluge of digital distraction can form the basis of a far more insightful Islamicate critique that weaves in Sufi themes. A possible area to explore further here.

Suggestions for Additional Reading

• Jeannette Baxter. J.G. Ballard's Surrealist Imagination: Spectacular Authorship. 2009. Provides an in-depth exploration of Ballard's debt to and evolution of surrealism.

• Mark Fisher. Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? 2009. Connects Ballard's works to contemporary issues like the normalizing of violence and saturated self.

• China Miéville. Close but no Cigar: Psychopathic Cities. 2002. An insightful Marxist reading of Ballard's urban dystopias.

• Royle, Nicholas. The Uncanny. 2003. Helps contextualize Ballard's focus on psychological uncanniness and psychic instability.