László Krasznahorkai, Nobel Prize in Literature: “My Hungary is that of the language, not that of the hussars” | Culture | EUROtoday

Hailed by the Nobel Prize in Literature and by the locks of white hair that – along with the grey beard and eyes of a blue so pure that they damage – give him the looks of an apostle or prophet, the Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai (Gyula, 72 years previous) receives within the bar of the Alma lodge after having had the day earlier than an uncommon, for an creator as refined and demanding as him, a crowd bathtub on the Culture Center Contemporary of Barcelona (CCCB). The creator of satanic tango y Melancholy of resistance, Dressed utterly in black and surprisingly tanned, he’s in a superb temper and seems approachable and affable, though he turns into darkish when speaking concerning the political state of affairs in his nation. Put a duplicate of your ebook on the desk Preliminary work for a palace (not but translated into Spanish), starring a bookseller of Melville’s namesake, serves to start out the dialog by recovering a dialogue held in 2024 in Marrakesh within the Formentor Literary Conversations concerning the that means of the whale that seems in Melancholy of resistance.

Ask. He then denied as much as thrice that the whale was an emblem of something, not even Moby Dickneither of Stalinism, nor of greed, nor of chaos…

Answer. And I maintain saying it, in my work nothing is symbolic, I do not like symbols in literature, nor parables, though I’ve a weak point for French symbolist poetry. To that ebook, Preliminary workI’ve a variety of appreciation for it as a result of it options Melville, Malcolm Lowry, who’s considered one of my favourite authors, and the modern and visionary American experimental architect Lebbeus Woods. Lebeo is a biblical title, by the best way.

P. Ask him then if literature is a tango with the satan…

R. It is for the characters of satanic tango. There are happier dances like flamenco, though additionally it is about ardour and the satan can also be current, you possibly can really feel the affect of the satan in flamenco. But in my novel, the tango is just the dance they do there whereas ready for a miracle. It is that and nothing extra.

P. Is it simply realism then?

R. Realism is a phrase related to a time, it isn’t what I do. What is realism? The reality is that there’s not precisely such a factor, in the event you suppose that even in one thing as goal as a automobile accident, witnesses will give totally different variations. When you speak about romantic or emotional relationships like I do, you possibly can’t say what’s actual and what’s not. You can’t current a state of affairs from an accurate perspective: what wouldn’t it be? In reality, it’s a radical change within the idea of actuality, certainly, the disappearance of actuality.

P. What are you making an attempt to inform the reader? There are those that are considerably disconcerted by his books.

R. First, I attempt to persuade them to not learn me, and I imply it, actually. I do not provide hope, though I do not take it away both. Mine aren’t recipe books, clearly. You cannot prepare dinner an excellent meal with them. They are like a paella I made as soon as. It went improper, I had all of the paella substances, however the entire thing did not work, it even felt horrible to me. But if somebody, regardless of every part, decides to learn my books, I counsel them to not consider something that has been stated about them. The indisputable fact that they’re troublesome to learn. It’s true that I take advantage of unusually lengthy sentences. [de hecho una sola en 400 páginas en el último, Herscht 07769, que publicará Acantilado, sobre un personaje que quiere alertar del fin del mundo a Angela Merkel mientras trabaja como limpiador de grafitis para un director amateur de orquesta neonazi]. It’s like if you maintain a secret for a very long time and out of the blue you let it out: how I really like you Lucía and I’ll at all times love you, and all of the avalanche that follows; You cannot say it in brief sentences. It makes the usage of the interval unattainable, which I normally write from that zeal for counting. Anyway, it happens to me now: is all this of curiosity to anybody? Who is occupied with how a ebook was made? We can be stunned if Samuel Beckett defined the way it took place. Waiting for Godot. I do not suppose I had an concept, it got here out like that. Honestly, I can not say extra. I’ve one thing in my head, I compose it and write. And if the reader has a nasty day, they purchase the ebook.

P. Said like this…

R. The essential factor is that the reader acknowledges himself. How fragile your individual dignity is. Let him notice that this dignity is the very last thing that may be taken away from him, however it may be taken away. That’s the place my good friend Béla Tarr and I had been totally different. He believed that an individual couldn’t be stripped of their dignity.

P. Do you are feeling an affinity with the Hungarian world?

R. Hungary… I used to be born Hungarian, my mom tongue is Hungarian. Hungary, I battle towards it as a lot as doable. Why change being a citizen of the world for being solely Hungarian. My relationship with being Hungarian is just like the one you will have with a stone on the riverbank. We do not know why that is so. Why wasn’t I born Albanian or Slovak. Far be it from me to ideologize the actual fact of being from any nation, from Hungary particularly. There are at all times rises of populism, people who find themselves happy with being Hungarian, of the homeland. Am I happy with the chair I’m sitting in? It could be very damaging how folks discuss concerning the nation in relation to actuality. The provenance does not have a lot to do with something. Certainly, they hate those that converse like me. I just like the Hungarian language, I really feel very fortunate that my mom tongue is one able to expressing very high quality nuances. But I equally respect different languages ​​and perceive that they’re cared for, just like the Catalan language, wherein I’ve an editor.

P. I perceive that it isn’t very hussars, Esterházys, Abadys, the sabers…

R. [Ríe de buena gana] You can solely chortle at all of it. That is, till his supporters meet up with you on the road and beat you up. You ask me concerning the hussars, the nation, and I speak about language continuously. It’s not a coincidence. My Hungary is that of language and never that of hussars. I’ve distanced myself a lot from the Hungarian world, from that idea of Hungarianness contaminated with stupidity. Horrible issues occur in all States uncovered to populism, however nothing equal in depth and brutality to what occurs in Hungary. That capacity to control, a supply of an infection. Hungary is not a rustic, it’s a madhouse from which the docs have already left and the place the sick play at being docs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

P. With History in hand, Hungary at all times appears to make errors at decisive moments. The Treaty of Trianon has weighed closely.

A. He at all times makes errors at historic crossroads, he at all times chooses the improper path. When I stated in an interview that I didn’t perceive that Hungarians are at all times very happy with their battles, which they at all times lose, the intense proper attacked me. There’s no level in arguing. Even individuals who appear very clever are prey to ideology. All of this returns us to the animal world, when what we want is to raise ourselves as folks. It just isn’t about accepting or rejecting traditions; There are few folks extra conservative than me in accepting them from an mental perspective. But, as a Hungarian saying goes, we grind in two very totally different mills and bread won’t ever come from their flour. And that has constructed a sick society, these psychological wounds that may very well be tried to heal otherwise.

P. In your literature, regardless of your having Jewish roots, the Shoah, the Holocaust, doesn’t seem.

R. It is current. Anti-Semitism, racism, legal stupidity… they’re in my books, in Melancholy of resistancein satanic tango…Petit-bourgeois Nazism…

P. But not explicitly.

R. I’ve not written particularly concerning the Shoah as a result of Imre Kertész already did. [su predecesor húngaro en el Nobel de Literatura, en 2002] who was an excellent good friend of mine. I could not write about it higher. And it is extremely harmful to take action, there are such a lot of kitsch works concerning the Shoah…

P. What was it wish to win the Nobel Prize?

R. Very sudden for me. I don’t belong to the group of those that are in entrance of the display on the primary Thursday in October watching the picture of a closed door and ready for it to open and a reputation to be introduced. It was very troublesome to absorb being positioned alongside so many names you admire, Faulkner! I nonetheless do not know what to do with the Krasznahorkai that has the Nobel. It is one thing that elevates you to a top the place there isn’t any oxygen, and my lungs want it, it’s a nice honor for me. It has been courageous to decide on me, as a result of I’ve at all times instructed a narrative of failures in my books.

P. Has Béla Tarr’s cinema influenced the studying of his work? Has your pockets been stolen in any means?

R. No, no, Béla by no means took something from me, I gave him every part. Look, a ebook is a ebook, a novel is a novel, Béla and I labored collectively, we determined every part collectively. I helped him with every part he wanted. I even satisfied him to take issues he did not wish to use. But on a ship there’s a captain and the others. Many writers tolerate this poorly, so they do not go into cinematography. Cinema has very merciless legal guidelines, and they’re vital.

P. Kafka and Malcolm Lowry are particular to you.

A. There are many writers that I like, these aren’t the one ones by any means, however it’s true that with out Kafka, with out the fortI would not be a author. And I additionally owe so much to Lowry. It’s not that it’s a must to select. I encourage everybody to open up and skim extra authors. A world is coming, if we proceed like this, wherein particular person survival methods are going to play a definitive function.

P. In some methods, you’re additionally a Ok.

R. Jajaja, an LK

P. Allow me to be frivolous, have you learnt that different Lászlo, Almásy, the actual Hungarian explorer and the one within the novel and the film?

A. Yes, though it’s higher identified exterior of Hungary. A really particular and really colourful kind. It can be value it if Hungarians knew him extra, however I’m afraid it would not assist both.