Satantango Extract

I have been eagerly waiting for the English translation of Laszlo Krasznahorkai's Satantango. I was surprised (and impressed) to see that Almost Island, an Indian literary webzine, has published an exclusive translated extract from the book. I looked around a little and saw that George Szirtes who has translated Krasznahorkai's The Melancholy of Resistance and War and War, and who is also a poet, is on the editorial board of the magazine. I really hope this comes out soon and may be in this case the book will take less time to read than what it takes to watch the film based on it (7 Hours).

I have been proselytizing for The Melancholy of Resistance ever since I read it a couple of years back. It is really one of the most brilliant and stunning contemporary novels that I have read. It also won the Dispatches from Zembla book of the year award in 2006!

Update: There is also an essay by Italian critic Claudio Magris (pdf link or if you like clicking while reading, here), who has written a lot on Central European literature and culture including on some of my favourite novelists - Musil, Roth, Svevo and others but his essays are not readily available in English. His book Danube, a Central european cultural history cum travel book, has been on my to-read list for a long time. (Link Via Space Bar)

I had earlier linked to an article on Satantango by Tim Wilkinson, who has translated Imre Kertesz, on the Hungarian literature website.