ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with freedom as an ontological question, establishing the locus of concrete freedom at the opening of the diagram onto the outside that ruptures its self-immanence and allows for the externalisation of its historical-ontological forms of subjectification, which liberates the potentiality of human being from its containment within an identitarian deficit of existence. Throughout the novel Michael K traverses the harrowing landscapes of the civil war-torn South Africa without identification papers, is repeatedly detained in and successfully escapes from the 'camps' set up by the warring parties for the purposes of the containment of the 'non-combatant' population. The story of Michael K effects a dramatic reversal in this relation between power and its subject. Unlike Kafka's characters, Michael K has no fascination with power whatsoever, knowing all too well the care and charity of the camps that await one after the entrance through the door of the Law.
