Access the full text.
Sign up today, get DeepDyve free for 14 days.
References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.
Abstract: This essay explores the juridico-political framework of Jerzy Kosinski’s The Painted Bird and the ways in which the novel’s narrative structure supports and undermines this framework. With reference to Giorgio Agamben’s work, it traces the concepts of the biopolitical body (bare life), state of exception, and sovereignty in how the novel dramatizes the relation between victim and perpetrator in Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe. Within this context, it singles out the notion of the homo alalus (speechless human) as a specific kind of bare life and discusses its functions in the novel. The picaresque voice reflects both the muted voice of the victim and the self-assertive voice of memory. Kosinski uses the picaresque template to articulate this dual voice as an art of giving testimony to bare life. This testimonial appropriation of the picaresque template can be read as a challenge to Agamben’s overdetermination of the concepts of bare life and sovereignty.
Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies – Purdue University Press
Published: Sep 13, 2012
Read and print from thousands of top scholarly journals.
Already have an account? Log in
Bookmark this article. You can see your Bookmarks on your DeepDyve Library.
To save an article, log in first, or sign up for a DeepDyve account if you don’t already have one.
Copy and paste the desired citation format or use the link below to download a file formatted for EndNote
Access the full text.
Sign up today, get DeepDyve free for 14 days.
All DeepDyve websites use cookies to improve your online experience. They were placed on your computer when you launched this website. You can change your cookie settings through your browser.