Anthologies#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Best European Fiction 2011 |
2010 |
Buy |
Non-Fiction#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Destruction and Sorrow beneath the Heavens |
2004 |
Buy |
Short Stories/Novellas#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Animalinside |
2011 |
Buy |
| The Last Wolf / Herman |
2016 |
Buy |
| The Manhattan Project |
2017 |
Buy |
| Chasing Homer |
2019 |
Buy |
| Spadework for a Palace |
2022 |
Buy |
Standalone Novels#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| The Melancholy of Resistance |
2001 |
Buy |
| War & War |
2006 |
Buy |
| Satantango |
2012 |
Buy |
| Seiobo There Below |
2013 |
Buy |
| The World Goes On |
2017 |
Buy |
| Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming |
2019 |
Buy |
| A Mountain to the North, a Lake to the South, Paths to the West, a River to the East |
2022 |
Buy |
| Herscht 07769 |
2024 |
Buy |
László Krasznahorkai is a Hungarian writer born in 1954 in Gyula. He studied law and Hungarian language and literature before publishing his first novel, Satantango, in 1985. That book follows the residents of a crumbling agricultural estate who fall under the influence of a returning con man, and its circular structure and long, unbroken sentences set the pattern for everything that followed. Béla Tarr adapted Satantango into a seven-hour film in 1994, beginning a long collaboration between the two.
His later novels include The Melancholy of Resistance (1989), War and War (1999), and Seiobo There Below (2008). His prose is dense and rhythmic, with sentences that can run for several pages. Translators George Szirtes, Ottilie Mulzet, and John Batki have brought his work into English. Krasznahorkai has lived in Germany, the United States, Mongolia, and Japan, and his travels appear in his fiction, particularly his writing about East Asian art and culture.
In 2015, Krasznahorkai won the Man Booker International Prize for his body of work. He has also received the Kossuth Prize, Hungary’s highest state cultural award. His most recent novels include Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming (2019) and Herscht 07769 (2024).
Frequently Asked Questions
How many books has László Krasznahorkai written?
László Krasznahorkai has written fifteen books across four series.
What was László Krasznahorkai's first book?
László Krasznahorkai’s first book is The Melancholy of Resistance, published in 2001.
What is the best László Krasznahorkai book to start with?
Many readers begin with Satantango, his 1985 debut novel about the inhabitants of a failing collective farm. It was adapted into a famous seven-hour film by Béla Tarr. The Melancholy of Resistance is another common entry point, with a somewhat more contained plot about a traveling circus that brings chaos to a small Hungarian town.