The Animal Hinterland in Marieke Lucas Rijneveld’s My Heavenly Favorite

Abstract

This chapter conceptualizes the obscured space of Dutch livestock farming as a “hinterland” through an analysis of Marijke Lucas Rijneveld’s novel My Heavenly Favorite (Mijn lieve gunsteling, 2020). It argues that the central relationship, between a farmer girl and a vet, figures the detrimental effects of factory farming on agricultural communities, particularly human-animal relationships. The novel renders the life and suffering of animals in the Dutch countryside through the girl’s “becoming animal” (Deleuze and Guattari), entering an obscure animal hinterland where the vet cannot follow. Conducting an affective analysis of the girl’s becomings, the chapter aims to demonstrate how animal hinterlands, however neglected and exploited, can generate powerful affects which may compel humans to restore balance to human-animal relationships.