J. G. Ballard’ın “The Ultimate City” Eserinde Ekotopya ve Petrokültür

Year 2021, Volume: 4 Issue: 2, 340 - 354, 30.10.2021

Cenk Tan İsmail Serdar Altaç

https://doi.org/10.53048/johass.988383

Abstract

James Graham Ballard, iklim kurgudan sınır aşımına kadar geniş bir yelpazede kurgusal eserler kaleme alan çağdaş bir İngiliz romancıdır. Ballard’ın “The Ultimate City” (1976) öyküsü, ütopik kentsel deneyin felakete dönüştüğü distopik bir portre çizen öykülerinden biridir. Hikâye, ana karakter Halloway ve yardımcılarının, petrolün tükenmesinden dolayı yıllar önce terk edilmiş bir kenti yeniden canlandırma çabalarını konu almaktadır. Halloway şehirde kalan kısıtlı miktarda petrol ile kenti yeniden yaşama döndürmeyi amaçlamaktadır ki bu amaç beraberinde sadece kaos ve karmaşa getirecektir. Makale, Ekotopya ve petrokültür kavramlarından yola çıkarak Ballard’ın eserinde petrolün modern toplumları nasıl şekillendirdiğini ve yok ettiğini inceleyecektir. Bu bağlamda, söz konusu kavramların teorik tartışmasının akabininde makale, öyküde bahsedilen ekolojik toplumun ekotopik özelliklerini irdelemekte ve bunları metropolisin tüketim kültürü ile karşılaştırmaktadır. Buna müteakip olarak, modern kentsel yaşamın vazgeçilmez bir unsuru olan petrol meselesi ele alınmaktadır. Çalışmanın bu kısmı petrole duyulan bağımlılık düzeyini ve bununla bağlantılı olarak petrolün dönüştürücü gücünü öyküden verilen örneklerle açığa çıkarmaktadır. Makale, “The Ultimate City”nin okura, gerekli önlemler alınmadığı takdirde güncel enerji politikalarının muazzam bir felakete yol açabileceğine dair öngörülü uyarısını aktardığını öne sürmektedir.

Keywords

J. G. Ballard, “The Ultimate City”, ekotopya, petrokültür, distopik kurgu

Ecotopia and Petroculture in J.G. Ballard’s “The Ultimate City”

Abstract

James Graham Ballard was a contemporary British novelist who published a wide variety of works ranging from climate fiction to transgressive fiction. “The Ultimate City” (1976) is one of Ballard’s short stories that portrays a dystopian vision where a utopian urban experiment transforms into a catastrophe. The story tells the attempt of the protagonist, Halloway and his company to reanimate a city that was abandoned years ago due to oil depletion. Halloway aims to bring the city back to life through the limited amount of oil left in the city, only to confront chaos and disorder. Using the concepts of Ecotopia and petroculture, this article aims to explore the ways in which oil shapes and destroys modern societies and possible alternatives to this predicament in Ballard’s work. To this end, after a theoretical discussion of these concepts, the article examines the ecotopian features in the ecological community in the text and compares it to the consumerist culture of the metropolis; and later addresses the problem of oil that is an essential component of modern urban life. This part of the article reveals the degree of dependence on oil and the transformative power associated with it through examples from the story. The article argues that “The Ultimate City” is a premonition to the reader concerning the current energy politics that may culminate in a total disaster unless necessary steps are taken.

Keywords

J.G. Ballard, “The Ultimate City”, ecotopia, petroculture, dystopian fiction

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