The model of contemporary intensive agriculture reflects humanity’s relationship with nature, the social and technological changes following the Industrial Revolution, and the prevailing values of modern society. I have situated the agrarian themes within an ecocritical framework and summarized the characteristics of contemporary intensive farming along with its environmental and social impacts. A historical overview of representations of the peasant in literature is followed by a motifs and themes analysis of four contemporary European novels that address agrarian themes: Règne animal (Animalia) by Jean-Baptiste Del Amo, Sérotonine (Serotonin) by Michel Houellebecq, Primerljivi hektarji (Comparable Hectares) by Nataša Kramberger, and Die Pürin (The Farmer) by Noëmi Lerch. In these novels, intimate portrayals of farming as a relationship between humans and nature are interwoven to varying degrees with a critique of agriculture – typically involving a negative ethical appraisal of intensive farming practices – which expands into a broader social critique informed by various ideological orientations.
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