The Drowned World, Comedy, And Elegy - 1704 Words

Climate change and drastic effects go hand in hand when it comes to evaluating aspects of the Anthropocene. Literary forms such as tragedy, comedy, and elegy play an influential role in the discussion of these subjects, shaping the way they are interpreted and comprehended. In J.G. Ballard’s The Drowned World, the use of these literary forms frame the ideas of how climate change affects a future Earth and what that means for humanity. Furthermore, this work manifests different emerging trends of the Anthropocene such as terraforming, biotechnological de-extinction, and cosmopolitanism to portray an altered world. Tragedy exemplifies itself in many different forms throughout Ballard’s novel. This literary form is especially conveyed through the tragic role of Kerans and the undeserved death of Bodkins. The question of whether Kerans takes the form of a tragic hero is a duality presented by the actions he has performed. His heroic tendencies reveal themselves during his a ttempt to refill the lagoon after it was drained by Strangman; however, his reasons for doing so were selfish, and he fled the scene immediately after the act was completed. While the act itself displayed Keran’s noble intentions of wanting to return the lagoon to its natural pristine state of primal times, his fleeing afterwards illustrates his true motives of heading South leaving the others to deal with the impact of his actions. Likewise, Bodkin attempted to refill the lagoon at an earlier place in the