They were drawn, too, to Satantango\u2019s<\/a> sense of physical and psychological decay, and the way it recognised the mundanity of their everyday lives. At least, that was my experience when I first read the book in 1985 in Budapest as an undergraduate student of Hungarian literature.<\/p>\n Oppressive atmosphere and stagnation often feature in the work of Central European writers. But, unlike the oeuvre of many earlier authors, Krasznahorkai\u2019s writing also gained immense popularity on the international \u2013 or more specifically, German \u2013 scene. <\/p>\n To some extent, this was the result of timing. In the 1980s, western readers often still reacted to art portraying the world behind the recently demolished iron curtain with a mixture of amazement and curiosity. <\/p>\n Novels set in \u201cnew Europe\u201d appeared in great numbers, exemplified by British novelists Julie Burchill\u2019s No Exit (1993) and Tibor Fischer\u2019s Under the Frog<\/a> (1992). But Germany was more receptive to Central European authors who wrote in less widely spoken languages. For this reason, it served as a seat of literary consecration<\/a> for them.<\/p>\n Krasznahorkai\u2019s novels appeared in German from 1990 onward, with Melancholy of Resistance<\/a> gaining the German best book of the year award<\/a> in 1993. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Krasznahorkai\u2019s first interview about his Nobel prize win.<\/p>\n Critics in the early 1990s were inclined to read both Satantango and Melancholy of Resistance as reflections of historical cataclysms. Yet, though Krasznahorkai\u2019s fiction is deeply rooted in Hungarian history, Satantango keeps references to the country\u2019s history vague and fairly abstract<\/a>. The novel\u2019s universe is only dystopian on the surface: tragic-comedic elements abound, leaving the reader simultaneously baffled and entertained.<\/p>\n International recognition<\/p>\n It is usually English-language publications that lead to the popular rise of non-Anglophone fiction \u2013 meaning it took a decade for Krasznahorkai to be recognised.<\/p>\n The novel that first drew wider international attention was George Szirtes\u2019 1998 English translation of Melancholy of Resistance, which follows the journey of a stuffed whale transported by a travelling circus. This success was followed by translations of War and War<\/a> in 2006. Satantango, while already a cult classic translated into other languages, did not appear in English until 2012. <\/p>\n As his works became better known, critics increasingly understood Krasznahorkai\u2019s writing within a postmodern framework. Critic Jacob Silverman suggested that<\/a> Satantango\u2019s main concern is \u201cthe realisation that knowledge led either to wholesale illusion or to irrational depression\u201d. <\/p>\n Writer David Auerbach<\/a>, in a similar tone, suggested that Krasznahorkai\u2019s major concern was the process of making meaning in a world where psychology and rationality are no longer serviceable tools of interpretation. <\/p>\n It was the award of the Man Booker international prize in 2015<\/a> that cemented Krasznahorkai\u2019s reputation with the English-language reading public. The author\u2019s decision to split the prize between his translator Szirtes, who was responsible for introducing him to the English\u2013speaking world, and Ottilie Mulzet, who produced a stream of translations of his later work, shows that perceptive translators play a key role in international recognition.<\/p>\n Hungarian fiction has never fared better in the international arena than in the 21st century. The process started with the Nobel prize being awarded to Imre Kert\u00e9sz<\/a> in 2002. Since then, the works of Antal Szerb (Journey by Moonlight<\/a>, 2016) and S\u00e1ndor M\u00e1rai (Embers<\/a>, 2016), as well as Magda Szab\u00f3 (The Door<\/a>, 2020) have garnered considerable critical success and reached a wide audience in English translation.<\/p>\n These immensely different writers have shown that the audience \u2013 readers, translators, critics and publishers \u2013 need to pay attention to work coming from languages that are not necessarily seen as part of the movements of world literature. Their efforts will be amply awarded.<\/p>\n
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\n L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Krasznahorkai wins Nobel prize for literature \u2013 the Hungarian novelist’s grand tales of alienation speak to our times<\/a>
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