Olga Tokarczuk’s latest book is a contribution to an international publishing project that is inviting modern writers to retell ancient myths. Tokarczuk has chosen to revive one of the oldest myths known to the world, first recorded by the Sumerians more than two thousand years before Christ. It is the story of the moon goddess Inanna, who descends to the underworld, ruled by her sister Ereshkigal, and is eventually rescued from death by another god. But Ereshkigal demands a substitute to take her place, and according to various versions it is either Inanna’s husband who dies in her place, or his sister who offers to die instead of him. Tokarczuk’s telling of the story takes elements from different versions and uses the peripheral characters, mainly the goddesses’ loyal servants, as narrators. Her telling brings out the echoes in the story that reappear in other ancient cultures, where many myths tell of a descent to the underworld followed by a return in exchange for a sacrifice, as a parallel with the annual cycle of nature, or the cycle of human life. As Tokarczuk writes in her informative introduction, researching and writing the story was like “a sort of literary archaeology – putting together an entire tale from pieces, and on top of that bringing it as close as possible to the modern reader. This task really did remind me of digging up the broken pieces of an ancient pot that once served its purpose and was used to the full by someone, but which nowadays is not just incomplete but the designation of which is no longer entirely clear.” Thus to some extent the meaning of the myth is lost, and Tokarczuk leaves us to read our own messages into her reinterpretation. While making the story accessible to the modern reader with hints at contemporary settings (like an ancient play produced in modern dress), she also retains the mystery and awe that we should surely feel when entering the realm of the gods, using a poetic style and rhythm reminiscent of ancient epic. In this extract, the servant of the underworld goddess leads Inanna – renamed by Tokarczuk as Anna In – to his mistress’ malevolent presence.
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