NATURE, BODY, AND MOVEMENT IN OLGA TOKARCHUK’S NOVEL “BIEGUNI” (RUNNERS): AN ECOCRITICAL READING

Abstract

In her novel “Bieguni” (Runners), Olga Tokarchuk creates a postmodern mosaic text that combines travel, myth, essay, and poetic prose, where the main themes are movement, multiplicity, nomadism, the boundaries of identity, empathy, and contemplation. The work forms a complex ontological perspective in which humans lose their central place in the world order, and nature emerges as a dynamic, diverse, and autonomous substance.

Through the mosaic structure of the novel, fragments of observations and stories, the heroine discovers a new philosophy of movement, realizing herself as part of the living environment. Movement becomes a form of being, and physicality becomes a way of knowing the world. Childhood memories and interactions with the river, the earth, and darkness demonstrate how nature shapes consciousness and sets the limits of experience, echoing Bruno Latour’s ideas about the shared existence of humans and “nonhumans”.

At the same time, plastic and garbage in the text function as a material metaphor for the Anthropocene: they symbolize the total penetration of the artificial into the natural world and highlight the anthropogenic influence of humans.

The heroine is constantly on the move, and her nomadism is contrasted with the rootedness of her parents’ generation, revealing different models of coexistence with the environment. Bodily and anatomical details, attention to the “anomalies” and “monstrosity” of nature demonstrate the equality of all forms of life and the unpredictability of the world.

A comparison with Max Kidruk’s scientific and rational approach, which emphasizes the effective and conscious use of plastic, shows the current trend of combining emotional and ecological sensitivity with technologically sound responsibility.

Thus, “Bieguni” (Runners) offer a postanthropocentric vision of the world, where movement, materiality, and interdependence become the basis of existence, and human responsibility for the ecosystem is a key criterion of contemporary ecological thinking.