Guest of the ilb 2002, 2008
László Krasznahorkai was born in Gyula, in 1954. He studied law in Szeged, then Hungarian language and literature in Budapest. Following the publication of his first short stories he wrote his début novel, »Sátántangó« (1985; t: Satan’s tango), which – based on his own script – was adapted to cinema by Béla Tarr in 1994. More films emerged from this highly successful collaboration between writer and film director, three based on novels by Krasznahorkai and most recently »A londoni férfi« (2007; Eng. »The Man from London«), based on a novel by Georges Simenon.
In his work, Krasznahorkai maps out a world in which classical heroes are a thing of the past. It is the mood, the ambience that takes on the role of protagonist. The characters are like puppets whose strings converge somewhere in the dark. They are penetrating loners and runaways who never quite come to a halt. Kafka appears to have not only stood as a kind of godfather for these types of people, but also for the stylistic integrity and nightmarish density of the novels.
After the publication of his novel »Háború és háború« (1999; Eng. »War and War«, 2006), the »Süddeutsche Zeitung« called Krasznahorkai’s work »the last great swan song of the end of the millennium«. Once again the author mapped out a scenario that is as melancholic as it is critical when read as a response to a new dawn. On the cusp of the new millennium, the chief archival candidate Korin embarks on a journey from his native home town in the provinces to New York to die there, in »the centre of life«. On his way, making many stops – from Crete to Rome to the Halls of New Art in Schaffhausen –, he catches a glimpse of the past in the West. Everywhere, he adds new verses to his inventory, and only the thought of a manuscript sewed into the coat he is wearing allows him the hope that a meaning underlies his trip.
Krasznahorkai’s latest novel, »Eszakról hegy, Délröl tó, Nyugatról utak, Keletröl folyó« (2003; t: In the north a mountain, in the south a lake, in the west roads, in the east a river), is set in Japan. Here past and present, reality and transcendence, become blurred, leading the reader along with the grandson of Prince Genji, a historical literary character, to the »most beautiful garden«, a realm somewhere between meditation and literature.
Krasznahorkai has been given many prizes, including the Jószef Attila Prize, the Tibor Déry Prize, the Prize of the SWR, the Kossuth Prize and the Sándor Márai Prize. Since the nineteen eighties he has spent a great deal of time abroad, visiting Germany, Finland, Switzerland, Italy, Bosnia, Mongolia, China, France and Spain. He read and taught in the U.S. and was repeatedly invited to Kyoto by the Japan Foundation. Krasznahorkai has been living in Berlin since 2007, where he was Samuel Fischer Visiting Professor at the Free University.
© international literature festival berlin
László Krasznahorkai online: www.krasznahorkai.hu | 
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