The Housing Works Bookstore somehow booked Laszlo Krasznahorkai, author of War & War, The Melancholy of Resistance, Satantango, and Animalinside (as well as some other books yet to be translated into English). Krasznahorkai writes like no other--he's a brilliant, inimitable mind, and to put it bluntly I feel like I met a contemporary Dostoevsky. My favorite way to describe Krasznahorkai's writing is borrowed from his translator, George Szirtes, who calls Satantango a "slow lava flow of narrative." He writes maddening sentence chains which create block after block of text--all while brewing a stormy cloud of anti-religious themes and a captivating plot.
Many thanks to New Directions from bringing Krasznahorkai here. Here's their great hardcover edition of Satantango:
Also by Krasznahorkai is an equally crazy chapbook called Animalinside. With similar themes as Satantango, Animalinside is a collaboration with the artist Max Neumann. Published by Sylph Editions and distributed in the US by New Directions, this too is a gorgeous volume (and includes a great introduction by Colm Toibin!):
I've got my eye on Sylph Editions, and will save a more thorough post on them once I get my hands on more to share.
If you're interested in reading more about Krasznahorkai, my about.com reviews of Satantango and Animalinside are embedded here.
Currently Reading:
New Ways to Kill Your Mother: Essays by Colm Toibin
Currently listening to:
Hot 97
New Ways to Kill Your Mother: Essays by Colm Toibin
Currently listening to:
Hot 97
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