(Domesticated) animals play a remarkable role alongside human characters in the novel 'De geluiden van de eerste dag' (1975), by Dutch author Anton Koolhaas. In dominant anthropocentric discourses...Show more(Domesticated) animals play a remarkable role alongside human characters in the novel 'De geluiden van de eerste dag' (1975), by Dutch author Anton Koolhaas. In dominant anthropocentric discourses subjectivity (the active, desire driven perception and experience of reality) and individuality of non-human animals often get erased. However, this doesn't seem to be the case in 'De geluiden van de eerste dag'. In this thesis, I aim to formulate an answer to the question: 'Does the novel 'De geluiden van de eerste dag', by Anton Koolhaas, represent and thematize an anti-anthropocentric human-animal-relationship?' This study shows that the novel attributes agency and subjectivity to non-human animals, while (to a certain extent) respecting their species-specific susceptibilities, modes of communication and behavior. Overall the novel takes an ethical stance against mechanical animal exploitation and promotes an empathic relationship to other animals. I draw specific attention to the way aggression is connected to agency, the constitution of the subject and to the creative act of taking up space (Umwelt). I also emphasize how language and anthropomorphism (in and via literature) contribute to the constitution of subjectivity, agency and individuality of non-human and human animals.Show less
The thesis argues that the concept of landscape fails to do justice to the experience of it. Through an analysis of the concept and of its origins, it locates the presuppositions of the concept in...Show moreThe thesis argues that the concept of landscape fails to do justice to the experience of it. Through an analysis of the concept and of its origins, it locates the presuppositions of the concept in its understanding of self and world. A phenomenological approach reveals that current understanding of landscape perpetuates the distinction of subject and object, disabling the experience of being in a landscape. Drawing on the later works of Husserl and Heidegger, the concluding chapters works towards an understanding of landscape as awareness of earth.Show less
