Date of Award
1-1-2009
Document Type
Campus Access Thesis
Department
Languages, Literatures and Cultures
Sub-Department
German
First Advisor
Agnes C. Mueller
Abstract
This thesis looks at acts of surveillance and the resistance to them in contemporary German fiction, specifically in two of Juli Zeh's novels, Spieltrieb and Corpus Delicti. Using Foucault's theories of discipline and punish and of biopower networks, the focus of this thesis is on the mechanisms of surveillance and regulation that govern everyday life in contemporary German society. In both texts, control is exerted over individuals who have also internalized the systems of observation and regulation. The main characters in the two novels are presented as outsiders who do not conform to society and its set rules. Ada and Alev in Spieltrieb and Mia and Moritz in Corpus Delicti resist against the systems that try to keep them under control. Even though the systems ultimately prevail, the characters' actions represent hope because they call for resistance in a post-9/11 world where almost every aspect of daily life is observed, recorded, and controlled.
Rights
© 2009, Jana Fedtke
Recommended Citation
Fedtke, J.(2009). Post-9/11 Networks of Biopower: Surveillance and Resistance In the Works of Juli Zeh. (Master's thesis). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/25