Utopian and Dystopian Outcomes of Climate Change in J.G. Ballard's The Drowned World and The Drought

Year 2024, Volume: 7 Issue: 4, 815 - 829, 31.12.2024

Berna Köseoğlu

https://doi.org/10.37999/udekad.1527308

Abstract

J.G. Ballard (1930-2009), one of the most significant English novelists in climate fiction, deals with environmental devastation and its impact on human beings in his novels The Drowned World (1962) and The Drought (1965). In these novels, while the condition of human society is depicted after the environmental disaster which takes place in the future, the roles of human and non-human and their relationship with one another are reflected. It is observed that nature prevails over humans in these novels. Humans, who were once at the center, have lost their privileged positions and their superiority has been replaced by non-humans. Both in The Drowned World and The Drought, the ascendency of nature over humans is stressed. In this article, the effects of industrialization and climate change on human society will be explored and the possible future scenarios regarding the environment, humans and non-humans will be questioned in the light of these two novels. Thus, it will be emphasized that these novels portray the impact of climate change on society from a different perspective; while in The Drowned World the setting turns out to be a utopian one, in The Drought a dystopian environment appears. This article focuses on these two novels comparatively in terms of utopian and dystopian outcomes of climate change.

Keywords

Climate Fiction, Climate Change, Ballard, The Drowned World, The Drought

J.G.Ballard'ın Boğulmuş Dünya ve Kuraklık adlı Romanlarında İklim Değişikliğinin Ütopik ve Distopik Sonuçları

Abstract

İklim-kurgu alanındaki önemli İngiliz yazarlardan biri olan J.G. Ballard (1930-2009), Boğulmuş Dünya (1962) ve Kuraklık (1965) adlı romanlarında çevre tahribatı ve bu tahribatın insanlar üzerindeki etkisini ele almaktadır. Bu romanlarda, gelecek zamanda meydana gelen çevresel felaket sonrası, insan toplumunun durumu betimlenirken, insan ve insan-dışı varlıkların rolleri ve birbirleriyle olan ilişkileri sergilenir. Bu romanlarda doğanın insanlığa üstün geldiği gözlemlenir. Daha önce merkezde bulunan insanlar ayrıcalıklı pozisyonlarını kaybetmiş ve onların sahip olduğu üstünlüğü insan-dışı varlıklar almıştır. Hem Boğulmuş Dünya’da hem de Kuraklık adlı eserde, doğanın insanlara karşı üstünlüğü vurgulanmaktadır. Bu makalede, sanayileşme ve iklim değişikliğinin insan toplumu üzerindeki etkileri incelenip, çevre, insan ve insan-dışı varlıklarla ilgili olası gelecek senaryoları, bu iki roman ışığında irdelenecektir. Böylece, bu romanların iklim değişikliğinin toplum üzerindeki etkisini farklı bir bakış açısıyla sergilediği vurgulanacaktır; Boğulmuş Dünya’da zaman ve mekan ütopik bir hal alırken, Kuraklık adlı eserde distopik bir ortam ortaya çıkmaktadır. Bu makale bu iki romana karşılaştırmalı olarak iklim değişikliğinin ütopik ve distopik sonuçları açısından odaklanmaktadır.

Keywords

İklim Kurgu, İklim Değişikliği, Ballard, Kuraklık, Boğulmuş Dünya

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