Krasznahorkai, Laszlo 1954-
PERSONAL: Born January 5, 1954, in Gyula, Hungary; son of Gyorgy
Krasznahorkai (a lawyer) and Julia Palinkas (a social security
administrator); married Aniko Pelyhe, divorced 1990; married Dora Kopcsanyi,
1997; children: Kata, Agnes, Panni. Education: Eotvos Lorand
University,_(LITERATURE, PHYLOSOPHY)______________________(19_83____) ; Jozef Attila
University,_(LAW)_____________________ (1978___).(please fill in dates and other
information about degrees)
ADDRESSES: Home and office--Rozsahegy 11, Pilisszentlaszlo, Hungary, 2009.
Email--l.krasznahorkai@yahoo.de
CAREER: SERVED AS THE PRESIDENT OF BUDDHIST UNIVERSITY OF BUDAPEST AND AS CHIEF-CURATOR OF THE PETER HALASZ'S THEATER "VAROSI SZINHAZ" IN BUDAPEST.)
MEMBER: Wissenschaftskolleg 2U Berlin.
AWARDS, HONORS:(BESIDES NUMEROUS PRIZES IN HUNGARY)SCOLARSHIP OF DAAD BERLINER KÜNSTLERPROGRAM IN WEST-BERLIN, l987-88, BEST BOOK PRIZE OF THE YEAR, Germany, 1994. FELLOW IN WISSENSCHAFTSKOLLEG ZU BERLIN 1996, SCOLARSHIPS BY CIVITELLA RANIERI CENTER NEW YORK 1999, SCOLARSHIP BY THE JAPAN FOUNDATION KYOTO 2000.MANY SCOLARSHIPS IN GERMANY. NUMEROUS PRIZES FOR HIS MOVIES TOGETHER WITH DIRECTOR MR.BELA TARR )
WRITINGS:
The Melancholy of Resistance, translation by George Szirtes, New Directions
(New York, NY), 2000.
Also, author of the novels Satan Tango, (THE PRISONER OF URGA) and War and War. Contributor of
two short stories, "The Last Boat" and "The Bogdonovich Story," to Thy
Kingdom Come.
SIDELIGHTS: Hungarian writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai was awarded Germany's Best
Book Prize for The Melancholy of Resistance in 1994. Others of his novels
include Satan Tango, (THE PRISONER OF URGA) and War and War. Krasznahorkai served as the president
of the Buddhist University of Budapest, (AS CHEAF-CURATOR OF PETER HALASZ'S THEATER "VAROSI SZINHAZ" IN BUDAPEST) and possesses degrees in Law,
Philology and Literature.
Thy Kingdom Come is a collection of nineteen short stories by Hungarian
authors, translated by Eszter Molnar. It contains Krasznahorkai's "The Last
Boat" and "The Bogdanovich Story." Clara Gyorgyey in World Literature Today
wrote that Krasznahorkai's stories and one by Lajos Grendel "lead into
Beckettian landscapes in the postmodern fashion of frequent
self-referencing." Gyorgyey classified Krasznahorkai's stories as "social
criticism and political satire." The works selected for this volume are
united because "each denouement is tragic, bleak, or bittersweet at best,
irrespective of the style, whether realism, naturalism, surrealism, stream
of consciousness, absurdism, postmodernism, or utopianism," reported
Gyorgyey.
The Melancholy of Resistance, published by New Directions in New York, NY,
and translated by George Szirtes, is Krasznahorkai's first novel translated
into English. The Melancholy of Resistance is a social and political
commentary. Its narrative takes place in Hungary where Valuska, the central
character, and his mother are beset by troubles. Disaster strikes after a
carnival and its ill-intentioned workers come to Valuska's town. The
carnival draws in a large number of the townspeople to view its dead whale
exhibition. Valuska is trapped amidst the sensationalism and threat of the
carnival workers until things return to normal. Of Krasznahorkai's style,
Michael Pinker wrote in The Review of Contemporary Fiction, "unraveling his
long, rhapsodic sentences, which suggest a language of bad dreams, proves
captivating entertainment. May further translations grant him the wider
notice he deserves among English-speaking readers."
(WORK IN PROGRESS: WAR AND WAR, NOVEL IN ENGLISH BY NEW DIRECTIONS, 2003)
(MOVIES: "DAMNATION",1988 /SCREENPLAY WITH MR.BELA TARR. DIRECTOR:MR.BELA TARR/; "THE LAST BOAT", 1992 /BASED ON THE KRASZNAHORKAI'S SHORT STORY "THE LAST BOAT" AND "THE BOGDANOVICH_STORY" SCREENPLAY WITH MR.BELA TARR.DIRECTOR:MR.BELA TARR/; "SATANTANGO", 1994-1997 /BASED ON THE KRASZNAHORKAI"S NOVEL "SATANTANGO" SCREENPLAY WITH MR.BELA TARR. DIRECTOR:MR.BELA TARR/; "WERCKMEISTER-HARMONY" 2000 /BASED ON THE KRASZNAHORKAI'S NOVEL "MELANCHOLY OF RESISTANCE" SCREENPLAY WITH MR. BELA TARR.DIRECTOR:MR.BELA TARR)
BIOGRAPHICAL/CRITICAL SOURCES:
PERIODICALS
Review of Contemporary Fiction, spring, 2001, Michael Pinker, review of The
Melancholy of Resistance, p. 188.
World Literature Today, spring, 1999, Clara Gyorgyey, review of Thy Kingdom
Come, p. 367.
(CRITIQUE,2000, MAYA MIRSKY,REVIEW OF MELANCHOLY OF RESISTANCE)
(FILMFESTIVALS.CANNES 2OOO,RON HOLLOWAY, REVIEW OF THE FILM OF WERCKMEISTER HARMONY)
(THE SECOND CIRCLE AND THE BRAIN-LIVE FROM OHIO, 2000,PAUL MCRANDLE, REVIEW OF MELANCHOLY OF RESISTANCE)
(CINEMAPARALLEL.TORONTOFILMFESTIVAL.COM,1999, ROB TREGENZA, REVIEW OF SATANTANGO)
(CITIPAPER.NET,JANUARY 18-25 2001, ANDREW ERVIN, REVIEW OF MELANCHOLY OF RESISTANCE)
In other languages:
FRENCH BY GALLIMARD, PARIS: SATANTANGO, NOVEL,2ooo
MELANCHOLIE OF RESISTANCE, 2OO3
SPANISH QUADERNS CREMA-EL ACANTILADO, BARCELONA: LA MELANCOLIA RESISTENCIA /2OO1/
WAR AND WAR /2003/
BGREAT BRITTAIN, BY QUARTET BOOKS, LONDON: MELANCHOLY OF RESISTANCE 1999
CHECH, BY ONIS, BRNO: SATANTANGO, 2OO3
BULGARIA, BY STIGMATI, SOFIA: SATANTANGO, 2OOO
DEUTSCH BY ROWOHLT, REINBEK: SATANTANGO 1990
DEUTSCH BY AMMANN VERLAG, ZÜRICH: MELANCHOLIE DES WIDERSTANDES 1993
DER GEFANGENER VON URGA 1994
KRIEG UND KRIEG 2000