From non-places to abject spaces: The annihilation of subjectivity in Concrete Island

Abstract

James Graham Ballard, one of the prolific authors of speculative fiction, uses ‘space’ as an active part of his works. Especially, the urban space in the 20th century fuels a great deal of his dystopian fiction. Extrapolating the possibilities hidden in the built environment, he carries out an exploration of dangerous terrains in human nature in his works. Ballard’s Concrete Island (1974) presents a critique of the motorways that gradually render human geography into an inhuman one. This paper examines Concrete Island through Marc Augé’s concept of “non-places” and Julia Kristeva’s notion of “abject”. This study argues that the crisis in bourgeios subjectivity is caused by the ongoing diffusion of non-places in the cities in Concrete Island. To prove this argument, the paper discusses how the novel reflects the features of non-places and in what ways these qualities inflict damage on public spaces of the cities. This discussion also aims to provide a logical explanation of Maitland’s absurd marooning on a traffic island in the midst of civilization. Subsequently, the examination is extended to abject spaces of the cities whose expulsion is a necessary precondition of bourgeois subjectivity. This part focuses on the oscillating tendencies of the protagonist between the restoration of bourgeois subjectivity and resignation from it. Using abject as a theoretical tool, the study highlights how Jane and Proctor function as reminders of symbolic order and Maitland’s final identification with abject.