Sovereign taxidermy: contesting ultimate decisions with Melville, Schmitt and Krasznahorkai

The article reads texts by Herman Melville and László Krasznahorkai through the Schmittian problem of genuine sovereign decisions. Examining the capacity and authority of contested, depersonalized and feigned sovereignties, two key figures are highlighted: a veiled corpse that supplements a ship’s figurehead in Melville’s story, and the carcass of a dead whale in Krasznahorkai’s novel. The two f igures maintain a political sphere in which the protagonists contest and claim sovereignties of uncertain origin to subvert and restore order. It is argued that the emptied sovereignties are crucial to understanding how the pure capacity to act can become legitimate politics.