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341378

Esposito, Biopolitics, and the Critique of the Immunity Paradigm in John Lanchester’s The Wall (2019)

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Last updated: 04 Jan 2025

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Abstract

This interdisciplinary study aims to explore the biopolitical function of immunity in society with a special reference to John Lanchester's recent dystopian novel The Wall (2019). It refers to Roberto Esposito's biopolitical interpretation of the concept of immunity and its relationship to community in which Esposito diagnoses the contemporary political culture with an “immunization paradigm". Having sketched the key principles of Esposito's biopolitical conceptualization of the notion of immunity in both its biological and political senses, the paper then investigates the possible areas of contact between his thought and the immunity paradigm represented in Lanchester's novel by ‘the Wall'. It will be argued then that Lanchester's Wall stands as a concrete embodiment of what Esposito refers to as an “autoimmune pathology" with a number of featured symptoms, including an autoimmune view of the self and the Other, the decline of tolerance and the proliferation of the culture of barrier-making. Following Esposito, the study concludes that immunity, in its biological and social forms, is not inherently autoimmune, but rather the result of the pathologized relationship between immunity, identity and society. This pathological relationship, fueled by a constant and excessive fear of contamination by the Other that does not almost exist, results in the crisis of coexistence represented in The Wall.

DOI

10.21608/opde.2024.341378

Keywords

Biopolitics, Border-Making, Esposito, immunity, Lanchester

Authors

First Name

Muhammad Yousri

Last Name

Aql

MiddleName

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Affiliation

Assistant Professor of English Literature Faculty of Al-Alsun, Kafrelsheikh University, Egypt

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Volume

85

Article Issue

1

Related Issue

46130

Issue Date

2024-01-01

Receive Date

2024-02-14

Publish Date

2024-01-01

Page Start

77

Page End

99

Print ISSN

1110-2721

Online ISSN

2735-3591

Article File

OPDE_Volume 85_Issue 1_Pages 77-99.pdf

PDF . 607.9kB

Link

https://opde.journals.ekb.eg/article_341378.html

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https://opde.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=341378

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4

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Original Article

Type Code

1,140

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Journal

Publication Title

CDELT Occasional Papers in the Development of English Education

Publication Link

https://opde.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Esposito, Biopolitics, and the Critique of the Immunity Paradigm in John Lanchester’s The Wall (2019)

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Article

Created At

25 Dec 2024