Becoming Disposable: Bodies In-Sync and Out-Of-Sync with Method Time in Juli Zeh’s Corpus Delicti

Abstract

Abstract This article analyzes Juli Zeh’s Corpus Delicti: Ein Prozess (2009) to show how the novel explores the ways in which social, cultural, and political structures control, monitor, and regulate the protagonists’ bodies and construction of their subjectivities. My discussions of Corpus Delicti foregrounds the possibility that performative acts which at times render the protagonist Mia Holl precariously illegible within the dominant socio-cultural system, while at other times she may still reside within the system. By doing and undoing a state of belonging and disposability, the character cannot be situated completely and permanently “inside” or “outside” the system. In this vein, Mia challenges the prevalent tendency of some readers to valorize resistance by embracing those instances when she registers as belonging to the dominant system. Moreover, distinct formal aspects of Zeh’s text prompt readers to pause and potentially re-read passages, encouraging them to interrogate critically their own desire for both a linear narrative and an optimistic resolution with a happy ending.