Abstract Machines in J. G. Ballard’s "High-rise"

Begüm Tuğlu Atamer

doi:10.18172/jes.5552

Authors

Begüm Tuğlu Atamer Ege University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3807-5783

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18172/jes.5552

Keywords:

J. G. Ballard, High-Rise, Deleuze & Guattari, Abstract Machine, Rhizome, Schizophrenia

Abstract

This article sets out to explore how J. G. Ballard’s High-Rise (1975) can be read through Deleuze and Guattari’s concepts of rhizome, abstract machines and schizophrenia. The social structure of the Seventies in England, High-Rise as a building and High Rise as a novel are connected to one another to portray a rhizome that manifests a dystopian answer to the inquiry of human nature. High-Rise can be studied as an abstract machine since it is a machine of fiction through which the readers question the meaning of humanity. High-Rise, the building, is also an abstract machine in itself since it operates as a means to reveal the constant process of becoming under late capitalism. Therefore, this article aims to reveal the Deleuze-Guattarian dynamics in High-Rise in relation to High-Rise, the building, by focusing on the social elements that expose the schizophrenic aspects of late capitalism.

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Author Biography

Begüm Tuğlu Atamer, Ege University

English Language and Literature Department, Ege University

PhD.

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