Today, October 13th, the translation of the Nobel Prize winner for Literature, László Krasznahorkai, a novel whose title is Herd 07769the postal code of the protagonist of the Hungarian writer’s novel. After awarding awards and worldwide publicity to unknown illustrious artists such as the North American poet Louise Glück or the Tanzanian novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah, the Swedish Academy once again insists on literatures that are less comprehensive in terms of readership and, in the case of Krasznahorkai, in performers literary works that have unusual registers.
This is the case of this second novel translated into Portuguese, by Cavalo de Ferro, which will have Portugal as the setting for the new Nobel’s first steps, as in addition to Herd 07769 To be available to Portuguese readers today, the author has also not canceled his presence at the Folio literary festival, in Óbidos, next weekend of the 18th and 19th. Let it be said that his debut novel, Or Satan’s Tango (1985) has so far been the only one published, in 2018 by Antígona.
Krasznahorkai does not have a very extensive work as a novelist, less than a dozen titles, being an author in other genres, such as novels, short stories and cinema scripts. However, for the Academy there is no doubt that his work is “convincing and visionary and that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, it reaffirms the power of art. He is a great epic writer, in the Central European tradition that extends from Kafka to Thomas Bernhard and is characterized by absurdity and grotesque excess”. Upon learning that he had been the writer chosen by the Swedish jury, Krasznahorkai was very clear in his reaction: “This award proves that literature exists on its own, beyond various non-literary expectations, and that it is still read. And to those who read it, it offers a certain hope that beauty, nobility and the sublime still exist in their own right.”
It was written on Thursday in all the media that they had little or nothing to reveal about the unexpected winner despite the bets indicating his possible victory, which a characteristic of his prose is extensive paragraphs of several pages. A situation that can be seen in the Portuguese edition, the beginning of which has four pages without any interruption and shortly afterwards a single segment (ending in a comma) with a single sentence over twenty pages without a single period. In other words, as in previous works, this Herd 07769 consists of a total of 379 consecutive pages.
Very present in this novel are two other characteristics of Krasznahorkai announced in the text of the Nobel announcement: the exaggeration of the grotesque and the very absurd. Nothing that the reader doesn’t easily get used to from an early stage, as the narrative brings together some of these characteristics in the letter he writes to Chancellor Angela Merkel to warn her of the danger facing Germany and, probably, humanity due to “the alarm within the scope of the philosophy of nature inherent in descriptions of apparently unanswerable processes arising during vacuum experiments” that require the “leader of the country and one of the most influential personalities of the world convene the Security Council”. This objective will be the best veneer to cover everything the writer intends to portray, very critical of the experiences of the various characters but without requiring very clear explanations. The length of the single paragraph of which the book is made up allows you to go back and forth between characters and clarify them.
From here we know what the demand of the protagonist Florian, who has a relationship dominated by the violence of his boss, is a victim of bullying constant and forced to disguise his ambitions due to his lack of genius; The interaction with neighbors, colleagues and, mainly, the boss reveals the mythology of a contemporary world that Krasznahorkai wants to record in a prophetic way in this strange novel because it has no interruptions and requires careful reading to understand it, as well as the political messages. Even in the various swear words that run through the novel there is another formula, discreet because they are reduced to three letters in the entire word.
The subtitle is O romance bachiano de Florian Herscht – and the epigraph, as desperate as it is increasingly true: “Hope is a mistake”, a clarification in the face of the civilizational disaster that the protagonist Florian de Herd 07769 foresees and for which he asks the Chancellor for help, despite not being sure that the letters will be read and the warning given. In this part is a parable of more contemporary times, in which if voters do not see themselves as passive in governments and small, more radicalized cells gather, debating policies and giving neo-Nazi salutes.
Being a 2021 novel, Krasznahorkai does not ignore a prediction about the future where Hungary was heading, as well as everything that was left behind in its history during the 20th century, not only entangled in a political but also a social problem. Orban’s installation in power (re-elected three times) and the challenge to the Russian invasion of Ukraine have a mirror in the construction of some characters, such as Florian’s boss: “Boss had a frightening air, which inspired respect even among his comrades.” In fact, the most recent Nobel became a mirror that reflected the opposition in the last years of the communist regime.
When we reach the last two pages, Krasznahorkai leaves behind all the tragedy that runs through the novel, the violence, the grotesque, and makes the farewell poetic. It should be noted that the writer has already stated that he never thought of being a writer. Nothing was planned; He wrote his first book and thought he should rewrite it. Process in which he continues to be involved: “My life is a permanent correction”.