“I am only me.” The ‘Crisis of the Subject’ in Feridun Zaimoglu’s Novel Isabel
Saniye Uysal ÜnalanFeridun Zaimoglu’s novel Isabel presents life and border situations from the 21st century life in Berlin. It further visualizes the theme of non-integrity as well as the crisis of the modern subject of the present, which results from social problems and social conventionality. The aim of this article is to focus on the conceptualization of the title character, and the protagonist as well, through the constitution of the subject from an intercultural perspective. By introducing and employing the theoretical approach of Stuart Hall and Judith Butler, specifically on the notion of “subject”, I will first analyze the ‘crisis of the subject’ which the title character is engaged with. I will further examine the critical positioning of the female protagonist, that reveals itself particularly in the conventional discourse and attitude she is subject to. In view of her exclusive disgust against the fundamental issues in life, the protagonist is primarily characterized by a new concept of self. Therefore, she takes a firmly distant attitude toward any kind of conventionality, and thus isolates herself from society. However, she rescues herself from the position of the subjected and non-“recognizable” (Butler, 2008, p. 15) individual as she reverses the dynamics of society through her critical attitude and linguistic statements. This means the title figure performs a “subversive resignification” (Butler, 2008, p. 246), and through this, creates a space for her self-defined subjectivity. This process of revaluation, which is directly linked to the title character, can also be observed from an intercultural perspective. In this sense, I will proceed to explain how the novel undermines and recodes the ethnicized and culturalized female subject through the subversive title character. In this context, moreover, the novel leads to the critical reconsidering of perception patterns related to Turkish culture.
„Ich bin nur ich.“ Zur ‚Krise des Subjekts‘ in Feridun Zaimoglus Roman Isabel
Saniye Uysal ÜnalanFeridun Zaimoglus Roman Isabel stellt das Leben und die Grenzsituationen des im Berlin des 21. Jahrhunderts lebenden Menschen dar und visualisiert dabei gleichzeitig die aus den sozialen Engpässen bzw. der gesellschaftlichen Konventionalität resultierende Desintegrität sowie Krisensituation des modernen Subjekts unserer Gegenwart. Das Ziel der vorliegenden Untersuchung besteht darin, die Konzeptualisierung der Titelfigur sowohl hinsichtlich der Subjektkonstitution als auch aus interkultureller Perspektive ins Auge zu fassen. Erstens wird es vor dem Hintergrund der subjekttheoretischen Zugänge von Stuart Hall und Judith Butler darum gehen, die anhand der Titelfigur zum Tragen gebrachte ‚Krise des Subjekts‘ sowie die damit unmittelbar gekoppelte kritische Position der Protagonistin in den Blick zu nehmen, welche vorzüglich auf konventionelle Diskurse und Haltungen gerichtet ist. Denn Isabel zeichnet sich in Anbetracht des signifikanten Ekels, den sie dem Grundsätzlichen gegenüber empfindet, in erster Linie durch einen neuen Selbstentwurf aus und nimmt folglich eine dezidierte Distanzhaltung zu jeglicher Konventionalität ein und isoliert sich somit auch von der Gesellschaft. Aus der Position des unterworfenen und nicht „anerkannbaren“ Subjekts (Butler, 2008, S. 15) tritt sie allerdings insofern heraus, als sie kraft ihrer reflektierten Haltung wie auch ihrer sprachlichen Äußerungen die Bewertungsmechanismen der Gesellschaft in ihr Gegenteil umkehrt, d.h. eine „subversive Resignifikation“ (Butler, 2008, S. 246) vollzieht und auf diese Weise einen Raum für eine selbstgesetzte Subjektivität herstellt. Dieser mit der Titelfigur unmittelbar verknüpfte Neubewertungsprozess zeigt sich ebenso auf einer weiteren Ebene, die aus interkultureller Sicht betrachtet werden kann. So soll in diesem Zusammenhang im zweiten Schritt gezeigt werden, wie der Roman mittels dieser subversiven Titelfigur das ethnisierte sowie kulturalisierte weibliche Subjekt unterläuft und neu kodiert. Die im deutschen Kontext mit der türkischen Kultur in Verbindung gebrachten Wahrnehmungsschablonen werden daher ebenfalls einem kritischen Neubewertungsprozess unterzogen.
Even though Feridun Zaimoglu’s novel Isabel, published in 2014, evokes his other novel Leyla in view of its female title character, there are significant differences between these two works. Isabel focuses on topics such as identity, integrity, border, and crisis situations, all of which are regarded as peculiar to Turkish-German Literature from a different perspective. The novel presents life and border situations from the 21st century life in Berlin. It further visualizes the theme of non-integrity as well as the crisis of the modern subject of the present, which results from social problems and social conventionality. The novel’s female protagonist puts an end to her life as a model and begins a new life after separating from her long-term boyfriend. She is surrounded by figures from the lower social milieu, including bottle pickers, madmen, transsexuals, and homeless people. The aim of this study is to focus on the conceptualization of the title character with regard to the constitution of the subject and from an intercultural perspective. By using and introducing the theoretical approaches of Stuart Hall and Judith Butler to the “subject", I will first analyze the ‘crisis of the subject’, which appears with the eponymous character. I will also concentrate on the critical position of the female protagonist that is particularly targeted against the conventional discourses and attitudes of society. In view of her distinctive disgust for the fundamental things in life, the protagonist is primarily characterized by a new concept of the self. She has a firmly distant attitude toward any kind of conventionality and thus isolates herself from society. However, she also rescues herself from the position of the subjected and non-“recognizable” (Butler 2008: 15) individual, insofar as she reverses the dynamics of society through her critical attitude revealed in her discourse. This means that this character performs a “subversive resignification” (Butler 2008: 246) and creates a space for her self-defined subjectivity. This process of revaluation, which is directly linked to the title character, can also be observed from an intercultural perspective. Secondly, I will show how the novel undermines and recodes the ethnicized and culturalized female subject through its subversive title character. It is remarkable that even though this character is of Turkish origins, this fact has no specific function on the frame of the plot. The emphasis on the performative phrase “I am only me” makes the distant and critical position of the protagonist to any kind of conventional discourse strategies obvious. In this regard, the conceptualization of the title character is a reminiscent of the female characters in Koppstoff who explicitly reject the stereotypical formations of the Turkish-German woman that are commonly found in the German public. The speech of the character Gül is particularly important here. In this context, the novel leads to the critical reconsideration of perception patterns Turkish culture as well. It is clear that the novel initiates a revaluation of the Turkish culture within the German community and its elements in a subtle way.
