Should I stay or should I go? Notes on Krasznahorkai’s narrative technique

Type of Abstract (select): Individual Presentation

Abstract (max. 250 words):

László Krasznahorkai is said to be „slow”, „hard to read”, „depressing”. But his novels are actually exciting, often impossible to put down. We know that the excitement of the plot is not the factor by which we evaluate serious, canonical works of fiction. Plot-twists, tension-building, cliffhangers – all the narrative tricks used to captivate the audience mostly belong to the toolkit of pulp fiction and TV series. It is all the more surprising that the above-mentioned devices can also be found in the works of the most prestigious contemporary Hungarian writers. By using the tools of narratology and creative writing, the presentation examines why it is worth paying attention to these undervalued narrative techniques in Krasznahorkai's novels. Examples will be taken from Satantango, The Melancholy of Resistance, The Prisoner of Urga and War and War. How do Krasznahorkai's works keep the reader turning the pages tirelessly, despite the slowness, the long sentences, and the repetitions, as they eagerly await the next chapter? How does he keep the reader interested in his detailed descriptions? Krasznahorkai entices with delay and retains with detail. The reader feels like they want to go and stay at the same time. They are simultaneously interested in the details of the scene they are reading, and would stay and look around, but they are also very curious about the slowly unfolding story. What do these tell us about the joy of reading and the international success of his works?



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Dávid Szolláth PhD (; ˂dszollat@yahoo.com˃) Literary critic, editor and translator. He is a senior research fellow at the Institute for Literary Studies, ELTE Research Center for the Humanities – Budapest. He is an editor in chief of the Hungarian scholarly journal Literatura and author of three books, A kommunista aszketizmus esztétikája (Aesthetics of Communist Ascetism, Budapest: Balassi Kiadó, 2011), Bábelt kövenként (Babel, Stone by Stone, Budapest: Bölcsészettudományi Kutatóközpont, 2019), and a monography on Miklós Mészöly (Budapest: Jelenkor Kiadó, 2020). He was editor of the literary journals Kalligram (2006-2008) and Jelenkor (2008-2018). His studies and articles are related to the fields of modern and contemporary Hungarian literature, history of Hungarian criticism and literary theory.