“A TRAGIC STORY ABOUT HELPLESSNESS, ANGER AND CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE”: AN AFFECTIVE READING OF OLGA TOKARCZUK’S DRIVE YOUR PLOW OVER THE BONES OF THE DEAD

Abstract

The article is an interpretation of Olga Tokarczuk’s novel Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead from the perspective of affective ecocriticism. The first section concentrates on the socio-political circumstances surrounding the novel’s release. This part of the article also considers Tokarczuk’s understanding of literature as an opportunity to experience sadness, frustration and anger in a cathartic way, and, in doing so, examine and better understand those emotions. It is argued that Drive Your Plow concentrates on two emotions in particular – sorrow and anger – doing so in the context of a wider debate on moral outrage and ecological activism. The article devotes considerable attention to anger, as experienced by the main protagonist of the novel, Janina Duszejko. It is shown that the notion of anger as retribution permeates Duszejko’s conviction that one has the moral obligation to oppose injustice. Nevertheless, Duszejko’s violent actions problematize her stance on anger, emphasizing her inability to control this emotion.