THE FANTASTIC BESTIALIZATION OF THE BIOPOLITICAL SUBJECT IN MARIE DARRIEUSSECQ'S TRUISMES

Drawing on giorgio Agamben's Homo Sacer, this article reads Truismes as a fictional interpretation of biopolitical power in which the universe of Marie Darrieussecq's novel resembles Agamben's camp, where the state of exception has become the rule and personal liberties are denied by a State that exhibits totalitarian control over its subjects' lives and bodies. In doing so, it elucidates certain otherwise enigmatic aspects of the novel, before contending that Truismes complements a strictly theoretical understanding of biopolitics by revealing the different ways human bodies are controlled according to constructions and expectations of gender, as well as providing insight into the biopolitical subject's individual experience. Ultimately, by addressing the limits of rational thought in conceptualizing bare life, this comparative analysis sheds light on the role of literature in the biopolitical discussion more broadly.