Exile Device and Political Subjectivation Processes: A Biopolitical Approach to the Novels Un día entre las cruces and La rueda de Chicago

Abstract

The article takes into account the concepts of device and political subjectivation processes, in order to build from both Biopolitics and Literature the components of exile device and the mechanisms that oRer resistance to it. In order to achieve such a purpose, the article proposes a comparative reading between political theory and literature, interpreting from a biopolitical perspective the novels Un día entre las cruces and La rueda de Chicago. Thus, the article answers how the networks of knowledge/ power constitute the subjectivity of the fictional character –Elipsio– in his condition of exile, and how does he resist and define his own subjectivity. fte work reveals some of the key elements of the exile device such as the break of the subject with his/her homeland, the production of bare life, the persecution and runaway, and the counterpoint experience and consciousness. It also shows that processes of resistance, or counter-device, include elements such as loneliness, writing, counterpoint and discontinuity like useful experiences, resistance to bare life, communities of exiled individuals, and love as a counter-device.