J.G. BALLARD’IN THE CRYSTAL WORLD ROMANINDA TOPRAK ETİĞİ VE İNSANMERKEZCİLİK

Year 2021, Volume: 5 Issue: 2, 39 - 58, 31.12.2021

Cenk Tan

Abstract

James Graham Ballard, iklimsel ve esrarengiz felaketler ile teknolojik modernitenin olumsuz etkilerini konu alan eserlerle tanınan çağdaş İngiliz bir romancıdır. Ballard’ın dördüncü romanı, The Crystal World (1966) Kamerun’da cüzzam hastalarını tedavi eden bir tıp doktoru olan Edward Sanders’ın sıra dışı öyküsünü anlatmaktadır. Sanders, arkadaşlarıyla birlikte Afrika’nın ormanlarında çevrede bulunan her şeyi yavaşça kristale döndüren tuhaf bir olgu ile karşılaşır. Bu araştırma, Ballard’ın The Crystal World romanını Aldo Leopold’un toprak etiği ve insanmerkezcilik kavramı penceresinden irdelemektedir. Makalenin teorik bölümü, Aldo Leopold’un toprak etiği kavramını çeşitli metin ve kaynaklara yapılan göndermelerle etraflıca ele almaktadır. Toprak etiği kavramı, doğal alanların çevre etiğine dayanarak korunmasının formülasyonunu önerirken, insanmerkezcilik ise insanın evrendeki merkezi konumunu ısrarla savunmaktadır. Özel anlamda makale, Ballard’ın alegorik anlatısı aracılığı ile toprak sömürüsü, insan türcülüğü ile şovenizmi yücelterek, insanmerkezci düşünceyi yapısökümüne uğrattığını ve toprak etiğinin acil gerekliliğini imalarla açığa çıkardığını tartışmaktadır. Bu bağlamda araştırma, Ballard’ın The Crystal World romanında insanmerkezciliği nasıl alaşağı ettiğini ve ekolojik bilinç ile birlikte toprak etiğine yönelik ihtiyacı yansıttığını ortaya koymaktadır.

Keywords

J.G. Ballard, The Crystal World, Aldo Leopold, Toprak Etiği, İnsanmerkezcilik

LAND ETHIC AND ANTHROPOCENTRISM IN J. G. BALLARD’S THE CRYSTAL WORLD

Abstract

James Graham Ballard was a contemporary British author mostly known for his dystopian works dealing with climatic disasters, uncanny catastrophes and the negative effects of technological modernity. Ballard’s fourth novel, The Crystal World (1966) tells the unusual story of Edward Sanders, a medical doctor treating leprosy patients in Cameroon. Together with his friends, Sanders encounters a strange phenomenon in the African jungle that slowly turns everything into crystal. This study aims to interpret Ballard’s The Crystal World from the window of Aldo Leopold’s land ethic and the notion of anthropocentrism. The theoretical section of the article gives a detailed account of Aldo Leopold’s land ethic referring to various texts and sources. The land ethic proposes a formulation for the preservation of land from the perspective of environmental ethics whereas anthropocentrism strongly insists on the central position of humans in the universe. Specifically, the article argues that through the allegorical narrative, Ballard deconstructs anthropocentric human thought and reveals the immediate necessity for a land ethic by revealing the exploitation of land and the exaltation of human speciesism/chauvinism. To this end, the study examines how Ballard deconstructs anthropocentrism in The Crystal World and implies the necessity for a land ethic, combined with an ecological conscience.

Keywords

J.G. Ballard, The Crystal World, Aldo Leopold, Land Ethic, Anthropocentrism

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