DRIVE YOUR PLOW OVER THE BONES OF THE DEAD

Author: Olga Tokarczuk
Year: 2016 (2009)
Publisher: Wydawnictwo Literackie
Language: Polish

Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk is one of a handful of writers that I was familiar with before they were awarded the Nobel Prize in literature. I have also previously shared some thoughts on her writing on my blog (see review of “Tales of the Bizarre” from January 2020). One of her most famous titles, and for many Swedes the entry point into her literary output, is “Prowadź swój pług przez kości umarłych” (“Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead”). This novel presents a narrative that intertwines themes of justice, accountability, and the nature of existence, enveloped in a murder mystery, all through the perspective of Janina, an eccentric and reclusive woman living in a remote village in the Polish mountains.

At the heart of Janina’s existence is a profound sense of alienation. She is an outsider in the community, not just because of her eccentricities and lifestyle but also because of her unconventional moral beliefs. Her deep empathy for animals and her insistence on treating them as equals to humans, including ascribing them the ability to plan and execute elaborate coordinated acts of passion, create a worldview that sharply contrasts with the dominant human-centric perspective of the other characters in the novel.

This alienation can perhaps be understood as a defence mechanism in the sense that it is a way of protecting herself from the disillusionment of a society that has failed to acknowledge the deeper, more empathetic layers of existence. Her past as a successful architect is only hinted at and when it is, only in the meaning of her falling out of favour and choosing to seclude herself from society.

Janina’s second obsession is with astrology. At first glance, this seems to emphasise her commitment to the idea of a unified universe or natural cohesion, but it also suggests an unconscious desire for control in an unpredictable and threatening world. She believes that the natural world is governed by a higher, mystical order, one that can be understood through astrology and the signs of nature. This belief can be interpreted as a manifestation of the need for certainty in a disappointing and inexplicable Kosmos, as well as an attempt to find meaning in the randomness of life and death, success and humiliation. Through astrology, she constructs an alternate narrative in which the forces of the universe—rather than the arbitrary and ultimately meaningless cruelty of human beings—are in control.

Above all of this hovers Janina’s problematic views on justice. Despite her conviction that every action is predetermined by the stars and that people have but limited freedom to determine who they become and what choices they make, she is drawn to the idea of accountability, guilt, and retribution. Above all, this is manifested by the novel’s poetic leitmotif “Songs of Innocence and of Experience” by British 18th-century poet William Blake. These poems explore the tension between the innocence of childhood and the corruption of adulthood, the dualities of good and evil, and the human capacity for both creation and destruction. Janina identifies with Blake’s vision of a world that is not simply governed by societal conventions but is in constant conflict between the opposing forces of innocence and corruption. The opposite of innocence is not guilt; it is experience, society, education, and history. Corruption is thus inevitable. Janina’s quest for justice is not grounded in human legal systems but in her own moral code, one that aligns with Blake’s critique of institutionalised power and the systems that fail not only to protect the vulnerable but moreover to preserve innocence to begin with.

This is where equality between humans and other animals ends. Janina never tries to read the horoscope for an animal. She does not judge them for their instincts the way she judges humans for acting upon theirs. The idea of justice echoes throughout Janina's pursuit of a reckoning for the wrongs committed against animals and the natural world. The divide between the human and animal kingdoms is not based on our intellect, technology, language, culture, or society. To Janina, the only dividing factor is mankind’s deviation from innocence.