Writer Krasznahorkai: ‘Crisis is the natural state of the world’

Krasznahorkai retraced his career with irony and disenchantment, explaining how writing was born almost accidentally: “My first book was born from randomness, just as our being in the world is random. I had no urgency to express myself and I wasn’t looking for a social role for the writer.” A vocation that was never truly desired, but which became inevitable: “I started writing books to correct the horrible ones I had written before. I always thought that the next book would be better, but instead it continually seemed worse.”

In his story, personal memory and Eastern European history are intertwined. Krasznahorkai recalled the years of Hungarian socialism with bitter and sarcastic tones: “The police had nothing better to do than stop me to ask for my documents. I replied that I was a writer. And even though I didn’t really want to be one, in the end I got the Nobel Prize. So I found myself in front of the King of Sweden. But I certainly couldn’t tell the King that I didn’t want to be anything.”

The writer then spoke about his relationship with director Béla Tarr, author of film adaptations that have become cult like his “Satantango”: “I have to thank Béla Tarr for having corrected the mistakes I had made in my novels through his films. His are wonderful films”.

Much of the meeting focused on his idea of ​​crisis as a permanent condition of existence. “We imagine peace as something positive and definitive – he explained – but this is not the case. The crisis never ends. It is the natural movement of life, of history, of evolution”. A concept that runs through his entire work and which also returns in the new book, defined by Santoni as “a novel of light”, without abandoning the philosophical darkness that characterizes his narrative.

Krasznahorkai also addressed the theme of religion and the human need to rely on saving figures. “We always wait for the Messiah or the prophet who can save us, but in reality we wait for the false Messiah,” he said. “We know very well who we are and what we have done to Creation. We don’t need the truth: we often want falsehood, someone to reassure us.”

The writer then reflected on his own style, famous for very long and hypnotic sentences, almost without interruptions. “My musical training, since childhood, has been decisive. Melody is fundamental for me. I am obsessed with beauty, indeed completely defenseless in the face of beauty.” Hence the choice of writing that challenges the traditional structure of the novel: “At a certain point the normal musicality of the written page was too narrow for me. The sentences began to get longer and longer, like a musical score.”

Speaking about the new novel, Krasznahorkai said he had once again included human characters, despite a wish that was never fulfilled: “I’ve always dreamed of writing books without human beings, but I’ve never succeeded.” The protagonists of the work are “an entomologist and a writer”, figures through which the author continues to question the chaos of the present and the fragility of existence.

Finally, there was a political passage regarding Hungary which has decided to turn the page by doing without Viktor Orbán. With a sharp joke, Krasznahorkai closed his speech amid applause and laughter: “If there are Orbán supporters in the room, please sit outside.” (by Paolo Martini)