Rebeless. Inanna as the heroine of Polish retellings of Sumerian myths

Abstract

The aim of the article is to interpret two Polish retellings of the myths about the Sumerian goddess Inanna – Inanna (1986) by Julita Mikulska and Anna In w grobowcach świata (2006) by Olga Tokarczuk. Both novels have in common the need to modernize these stories, placing them in a futuristic – or even post-apocalyptic – dimension of reality. Each of them is an attempt to comment on contemporary times, where the role of a woman, although emancipated and established, is subject to the constant pressure of patriarchy. The myth of the Sumerian goddess used by the writers serves two different purposes. In Mikulska's prose it is a woman's fight for her autonomy, while in Tokarczuk’s work Inanna becomes a messiahess who sacrifices herself for a better world in which there will be a place for everyone, previously excluded and humiliated.