Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Melancholy of Resistance | 2001 | László Krasznahorkai | Buy |
| 2 | War & War | 2006 | László Krasznahorkai | Buy |
| 3 | Satantango | 2012 | László Krasznahorkai | Buy |
| 4 | Seiobo There Below | 2013 | László Krasznahorkai | Buy |
| 5 | The World Goes On | 2017 | László Krasznahorkai | Buy |
| 6 | Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming | 2019 | László Krasznahorkai | Buy |
| 7 | A Mountain to the North, a Lake to the South, Paths to the West, a River to the East | 2022 | László Krasznahorkai | Buy |
| 8 | Herscht 07769 | 2024 | László Krasznahorkai | Buy |
László Krasznahorkai’s standalone novels span from his 1985 debut Satantango through his recent works in the 2020s. Each book stands alone, but they share the author’s interest in closed systems falling apart and characters caught in loops of expectation and disappointment. His sentences are famously long and complex, creating a reading experience that mirrors the traps his characters find themselves in.
The novels have been translated into English by several translators, most notably George Szirtes and Ottilie Mulzet. Satantango, The Melancholy of Resistance, and Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming form an informal sequence set in the Hungarian countryside, though they can be read independently. War and War follows a different path entirely, tracing a Hungarian archivist who flees to New York with a mysterious manuscript.