Iterative architecture : a Ballardian text.

Abstract

J.G. Ballard’s texts tend to work particularly through the recognition of the component. This is most evident in The Atrocity Exhibition, where each chapter is itself a ‘condensed novel’ and each titled paragraph thereby a ‘chapter’. Here, the architectural/ iterative imperatives of the Ballardian text are at their fullest extent. This article explores the formal propoerties of Ballard's short story 'the Beach Murders' (also known as 'Confetti Royale'), one of Ballard's few texts to explicitly refer to espionage narratives. The article splices 26 critical paragraphs with 26 fictional paragraphs that investigate the conjunction of Ballard and 1960s spy narratives, and particularly poists a connection between the recursive 'T' figure of The Atrocity Exhibition and Ian Fleming's James Bond