Animals, animal metaphors and nature in the periphery in Fredrik Backman's Björnstad

Abstract

Fredrik Backman’s Beartown trilogy (2016-2021) tells the story of the fictional Swedish peripheral city Beartown and how this city is affected by the rape of a young girl. This article examines how animals and animal metaphors are used to illustrate collectivity and periphery. Using Deleuze’s and Guattari’s theories of becoming-animal the analysis investigates how humanity is negotiated through the closeness to nature. Further, the article dwells on the question of metaphor versus materiality, and argues that a clear line cannot be drawn, but that the metaphorical and the real are leaking into each other.