Myth Refunctionalization: The Solarpunk Turn in Olga Tokarczuk’s Anna In in the Tombs of the World

Abstract

Sorapunk has become an important framework for the study of contemporary ecological and post-humanist literature, but Polish literature is largely absent from this dialogue. This article examines Anna In in the Tombs of the World (2006) by Olga Tokarczuk and argues that the novel can be understood as an early literary representation of the Solarpunk imagination. Starting from a cyberpunk-style closed narrative world, the text rewrites the Sumerian myth of Inanna’s lineage in a specific direction. This transformation spans three dimensions: the organic integration of technology, cyclical timeliness and regeneration process, and the dispersion of subjectivity to multiple subjects. Through these changes, the narrative moves from closed to open, and finally expresses an ecological imagination consistent with Sunpunk. The article further demonstrates that this mythological choice responds to the historical configuration of the Polish nation-Catholic-patriarchal discourse. By mobilizing the narrative resources of the former nation and the former Christianity, the novel transcends the closed boundaries of national narrative and contributes to the construction of transnationality.