Echoes of architectural modernism in J.G. Ballard’s High-Rise

Abstract

This article pursues the elements of architectural Modernism in James Graham Ballard’s 1975 novel High-Rise (1975). The enormous tower block represents a triumph of technological and constructional progress envisioned by the pioneers of modernist architecture. However, Ballard’s vision of social development within it is regressive and violent. In order to decipher the nature of the role, or lack thereof, of the tower block in the reformulation of its own social fabric, the paper studies the ways in which the narrative presents aspects analogous to the key elements of architectural modernism. Particular attention is paid to the narrative’s reflections of radical and often contradictory visions of key figures of theoretical roots of modernism, such as Le Corbusier and Karel Teige. Their ambiguous stance on the core of modernism not only determines the outcome of the social experiment performed by Ballard in High-Rise, but can also be seen as deforming the building practice until today.