How's that for an awkward book title? This is a pretty slight (120 pages) thing, and it looks kind of semi-professional, but hopefully a nice little canter.
Day 1 (DDRD 3,285) November 2, 2026
Read to page 30. A quick read...and a good one. In fact, it has me itching to re-read Krasznahorkai.
Early on, Mansfield mentioned that Imre Kertesz was the first Hungarian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature..."for writing that upholds the fragile experience of the individual against the barbaric arbitrariness of history." The Louisville Free Public Library has several of his books, so I put in a request for one of them. So it continues.
"...Sátántangó becomes a story about faith and deception. It shows how easily people trapped in despair will believe any message of hope, even if it leads them to ruin." (29) Well. That kind of sums up the whole MAGA thing, doesn't it?
And if it doesn't, try this: "This novel [The Melancholy of Resistance] explores how crowds behave when they lose faith in order. Rumors spread, fear grows, and reason disappears. The people look for someone to lead them, but those who rise to power are guided by selfishness and cruelty. The story becomes a study of manipulation, showing how chaos can be used to gain control." (31) O, my prophetic soul!
ADDENDUM: Here's a pretty intelligent summation of Krasznahorkai's work: "...Krasnahorkai's entire body of work is a long medication on how to stay awake in a world that keeps falling asleep." (40-41)
Also, "Each of his books becomes a meditation on how to live with awareness when chaos surrounds us." (58)
Again an explanation for Trump's rise to power: "When a man named Irimiás returns and claims he can rebuild everything, they cling to his promise. His lies destroy them, but for a moment, they feel alive again. The story shows how easily communities, when desperate, trade truth for illusion." (58-60)
And...read to page 60. Pretty interesting book, actually. I could probably finish today, and might well do that. Meanwhile, I'm thinking maybe Seiobo There Below...which I just happen to have from the library...should be my next DDR book.
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