Homines Sacri of Eskibahçe: An Agambenian Reading of Louis de Bernières’ Birds without Wings

This study aims to provide a political criticism of the 2004 novel Birds without Wings by the English author Louis de Bernières, as the political background and overtly political subplot of the novel render it open to one. In order to develop its own argument the study reads Bernières’ novel through...

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Main Author: Tuğçe Özdinç
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: Istanbul University Press 2022-12-01
Series:Litera: Dil, Edebiyat ve Kültür Araştırmaları Dergisi
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Online Access:https://cdn.istanbul.edu.tr/file/JTA6CLJ8T5/73B8868A3FF94A72B2D32827581E7E47
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author Tuğçe Özdinç
author_facet Tuğçe Özdinç
author_sort Tuğçe Özdinç
collection DOAJ
description This study aims to provide a political criticism of the 2004 novel Birds without Wings by the English author Louis de Bernières, as the political background and overtly political subplot of the novel render it open to one. In order to develop its own argument the study reads Bernières’ novel through the political concepts of the contemporary Italian thinker Giorgio Agamben, focusing mainly on two of them that can be found in Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life of Agamben, and created by the sovereign in relation with the sovereign exception or ban: The first concept is an indistinct concept of life, namely a naked or as Agamben puts it, a bare life. And the second is the homo sacer (sacred man), the one who dwells in this naked life. Living in a small village named Eskibahçe, the characters in Louis de Bernières’ novel are described as birds without wings that “are always confined to earth, no matter how much [they] climb to the high places and flap [their] arms” by the author himself (2005, p.621) and they are turned into homines sacri (sacred men) during a state of political emergency as the footfall of the upcoming change. Therefore, the study aims to examine all the homines sacri in Birds without Wings of Louis de Bernières by an Agambenian reading.
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series Litera: Dil, Edebiyat ve Kültür Araştırmaları Dergisi
spelling doaj-art-30ddf33de4234a07bbb8c1f6c2c974f22025-08-20T02:27:00ZdeuIstanbul University PressLitera: Dil, Edebiyat ve Kültür Araştırmaları Dergisi2602-21172022-12-0132251753310.26650/LITERA2021-997940123456Homines Sacri of Eskibahçe: An Agambenian Reading of Louis de Bernières’ Birds without WingsTuğçe Özdinç0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5591-3400İstanbul Gelişim Üniversitesi, İstanbul, TürkiyeThis study aims to provide a political criticism of the 2004 novel Birds without Wings by the English author Louis de Bernières, as the political background and overtly political subplot of the novel render it open to one. In order to develop its own argument the study reads Bernières’ novel through the political concepts of the contemporary Italian thinker Giorgio Agamben, focusing mainly on two of them that can be found in Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life of Agamben, and created by the sovereign in relation with the sovereign exception or ban: The first concept is an indistinct concept of life, namely a naked or as Agamben puts it, a bare life. And the second is the homo sacer (sacred man), the one who dwells in this naked life. Living in a small village named Eskibahçe, the characters in Louis de Bernières’ novel are described as birds without wings that “are always confined to earth, no matter how much [they] climb to the high places and flap [their] arms” by the author himself (2005, p.621) and they are turned into homines sacri (sacred men) during a state of political emergency as the footfall of the upcoming change. Therefore, the study aims to examine all the homines sacri in Birds without Wings of Louis de Bernières by an Agambenian reading.https://cdn.istanbul.edu.tr/file/JTA6CLJ8T5/73B8868A3FF94A72B2D32827581E7E47homo sacerbare lifesovereign exceptiongiorgio agambenlouis de bernières
spellingShingle Tuğçe Özdinç
Homines Sacri of Eskibahçe: An Agambenian Reading of Louis de Bernières’ Birds without Wings
Litera: Dil, Edebiyat ve Kültür Araştırmaları Dergisi
homo sacer
bare life
sovereign exception
giorgio agamben
louis de bernières
title Homines Sacri of Eskibahçe: An Agambenian Reading of Louis de Bernières’ Birds without Wings
title_full Homines Sacri of Eskibahçe: An Agambenian Reading of Louis de Bernières’ Birds without Wings
title_fullStr Homines Sacri of Eskibahçe: An Agambenian Reading of Louis de Bernières’ Birds without Wings
title_full_unstemmed Homines Sacri of Eskibahçe: An Agambenian Reading of Louis de Bernières’ Birds without Wings
title_short Homines Sacri of Eskibahçe: An Agambenian Reading of Louis de Bernières’ Birds without Wings
title_sort homines sacri of eskibahce an agambenian reading of louis de bernieres birds without wings
topic homo sacer
bare life
sovereign exception
giorgio agamben
louis de bernières
url https://cdn.istanbul.edu.tr/file/JTA6CLJ8T5/73B8868A3FF94A72B2D32827581E7E47
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