Le vermiglie sabbie della mente: J.G. Ballard

James Graham Ballard’s “Vermilion Sands” (1971) exemplifies the concept of a mindscape, a term recently revitalized in contemporary cultural and literary studies to transcend the traditional dichotomy between inner and outer spaces. In this collection of short stories, deeply rooted in surrealist aesthetics, the landscape becomes the primary lens through which the characters’ tormented interiority is revealed: a world in which spatial and psychic dimensions merge seamlessly. The final story, “The Thousand Dreams of Stellavista”, centers on a psychotropic house – a dwelling that records its inhabitants’ psyches and thus functions as a symptomatic body that compulsively re-enacts individual and collective traumas. By analyzing this anti-mimetic interplay of space and identity, we propose to interpret Ballard’s introverted storytelling as anticipatory of contemporary discourses on post-human subjectivity and technologically mediated environments. We also position it as a compelling case study for expanding current approaches in narratology and cognition. The work foregrounds the embodied and extended nature of fictional minds, challenging conventional boundaries between psychology and setting. Ultimately, “Vermilion Sands” calls for an interdisciplinary framework capable of exploring how literature maps the mind onto the world – and vice versa.