The Nobel prize for Literature has just been announced and the winner is László Krasznahorkai. The Hungarian writer had been near the top of the betting for the last ten years. His best known book is Satantango, a slowly unwinding book in a backwater village as horror unfurls as a man comes to the town. I have reviewed the book and several other works by László Krasznahorkai over the past year. He is a complex writer whose work encompasses a multitude of ideas and threads, set across various parts of the world. The Nobel Committee said in the quote he was given it for
“for his compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art”.
He has also made several films with Bela Tarr, based on his book Satantango, including one of them. His last book was Herscht 07769, which I have yet to review.
Feels very fitting with all the troubles in Ukraine and along those old borders. Brings our attention back to the people who struggle with day-to-day life there. Read your review and delighted to see that the translator was George Szirtes. Hope IWM in Vienna do something for him.
Oh, wouldn’t you know it…. I bought a copy of Satantango back in 2013, and according to Goodreads I read 10 pages of it, and then wrote “Hmm. I started it, but maybe I wasn’t in the mood for never-ending paragraphs. I’ll read something else first, and then come back to it.”
But I’ve just checked and I haven’t still got it, so I must have chucked it out.