Health versus humanity? Three recent German novels on biopolitics and citizenship

Abstract

Three recent German novels, Juli Zeh’s Corpus Delicti, 2009, Zoë Beck’s thriller Paradise City, 2020,and Martin Schäuble’s youth novel Cleanland, 2020, present dystopian views of a future society based on a health system which, on the surface, is extremely successful but on closer observation represents the collapse of humanity. These novels represent a thoroughgoing critique of biopolitics as defined by Michel Foucault and radicalised by Giorgio Agamben and Achille Mbembe. This article investigates their criticism of biopolitics in the light of the transformation of society due to COVID-19 measures, focusing on the situation in Germany, albeit largely applicable also to other western countries. To shed light on the changes in our conception of citizenship, it first presents an analysis of the shift in meaning of the concept of ‘solidarity’ as an example of discursive change and reflects on the role of literature for societal development. Against that backdrop, the article examines the conflict of interests that sees health and security pitted against freedom as presented in the novels and explores further key aspects: the media, manipulation and fear, the counterworlds both inside and outside the shiny world of these affluent societies, and the constructed opposition between humanity and health system. These considerations will lead in the conclusion to a discussion of biopolitics in the context of the COVID-19 crisis with regard to digital culture and citizenship.