Europe Degree Zero

Community, Inoperativity, and Storytelling in Pieter de Buysser’s De keisnijders

Abstract

This article considers Pieter de Buysser’s recent speculative novel De keisnijders (2012) from the perspective of the post-structuralist rethinking of the idea of Europe and the concept of community, as undertaken by Jacques Derrida and Jean-Luc Nancy respectively. Set halfway into the twenty-first century, De keisnijders depicts a (pseudo-) utopian enclave in the center of Berlin, frequented by individuals from all over the world and from practically all social strata. Unlike traditional utopias, the community does not revolve around a political blueprint or shared essence, but around philosophical speculation and storytelling. The characters in De keisnijders seek to fundamentally rethink the possibilities for a common, transnational identity, while at the same time attempting to think community in a non-identitarian, non-organicist manner.