Open Collections

Abstract

This thesis explores how the perspectives of human characters in Juli Zeh’s Unterleuten (2016) toward particular nonhuman entities can be understood as relationship-building agents rather than purely human-centered perceptions. While such perspectives are traditionally interpreted as human projections shaped by anthropomorphic cognition or cultural frameworks, this study argues that the role of nonhuman entities themselves in shaping and affording these perceptions warrants greater attention. Set in the fictional village of Unterleuten, the novel provides a rich ground for examining how human and nonhuman relationships are materially and affectively intertwined. Building up on the concepts of relationality, phenomenology, and sociomateriality, this thesis demonstrates that the characters’ motivations are not merely products of personal histories or individual experiences, but are deeply influenced by their entanglements with the village environment, for instance the wind, forests, animals, and especially the village land. Furthermore, it investigates how these relationships are disrupted and transformed with the arrival of a renewable energy corporation, highlighting the dynamic interplay between human and nonhuman agencies within a shared ecological and social space.