Satantango
László Krasznahorkai · b. 1954 · Hungary
Originally Sátántangó (Hungarian) · translated by George Szirtes
Why it matters
A ruined collective farm, a returning con man mistaken for a messiah, and sentences that spiral like the rain that never stops. The apocalyptic long sentence perfected, and, via Béla Tarr, a seven-hour film legend.
At a glance
postmodernexistentialist
Difficulty 9/10slow pace274 pagesPage-length sentences, circular chapter structure, and near-total absence of paragraph breaks.
Deep dive
A self-styled messiah times his return to a dying farm for the exact moment its last residents have nothing left to lose — and the sentence describing it refuses, page after page, to give you a place to breathe.
Where to go next
László Krasznahorkai · 1989The Melancholy of ResistanceLvl 9Slow burn
Jon Fosse · 2019SeptologyLvl 8Slow burn
Milan Kundera · 1984The Unbearable Lightness of BeingLvl 5Slow burn
W. G. Sebald · 1995The Rings of SaturnLvl 7Slow burn
Franz Kafka · 1915The MetamorphosisLvl 4Medium pace
Witold Gombrowicz · 1937FerdydurkeLvl 7Fast paced