READING DEATH WORLDS AND LIVING DEAD IN THE DIRECTOR BY DANIEL KEHLMANN: A NECROPOLITICAL READING

Abstract

This qualitative research takes Achille Mbembe’s theory of necropolitics as its theoretical framework for a close textual analysis of Daniel Kehlmann’s novel The Director. Mbembe lucidly explains, in graphic detail, how the creation of fictionalized enemies leads to the creation of death worlds in which the conditions of the people are reduced to that of the living dead. According to Mbembe’s theory within necropolitical regimes, the rights of the imagined enemies or marginalized people are suspended and they waver to and fro between life and death. In the fictional world of The Director, numerous representations of the living dead and death worlds can be found. The present study investigates how these dark living conditions are brought about in the novel in which the characters are reduced to the status of living dead and examines the role that cinematic art plays in this process. It is argued here that the moral agency entails freedom in the first place, and deprived of their basic human rights and freedom to live, the characters are rendered incapable of exercising moral agency.