Özne ve Öteki: Thomas Hettche’nin Tavus Kuşu Adası Adlı Romanına Postkolonyal Bir Okuma
The Subject and the Other: A Postcolonial Reading of Thomas Hettche’s Novel Peacock Island

Summary/Abstract: Thomas Hettche’s novel Peacock Island (“Pfaueninsel”), which was published in 2014, takes place in the 19th century and tells the life story of a female character named Maria Dorothea Strakon, known as Marie. As orphans, Marie and her older brother Christian are taken to Peacock Island, which lies at the southwest of Berlin, and kept in royal care. Both are short in stature or “dwarfs” who seemingly can only exist on the island where they were raised. Other people regard Marie and Christian as “monsters” and have an essentially colonial relationship to them. From this perspective, it can be said that the narrative focuses on the micro level of hegemony. It illustrates how among subjects dominance behaviors emerge, develop, and ultimately lead to victims. Accordingly, in this article, the novel will be analyzed on the basis of Homi K. Bhabha’s postcolonial theory and read as a hegemonic story of othering.

• Details
• Contents