The Melancholy of Resistance
![]() First edition cover (Hungary) | |
Author | László Krasznahorkai |
---|---|
Original title | Az ellenállás melankóliája |
Translator | George Szirtes |
Language | Hungarian |
Publisher | Magvető |
Publication date | 1989 |
Publication place | Hungary |
Published in English | 2000 |
Pages | 385 |
ISBN | 9788009000689 |
The Melancholy of Resistance (Template:Lang-hu) is a 1989 novel by the Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai. The narrative is set in a restless town where a mysterious circus, which exhibits a whale and nothing else, contributes to an apocalyptic atmosphere. Krasznahorkai adapted the novel into a screenplay for the 2000 film Werckmeister Harmonies, directed by Béla Tarr.[1]
Reception
James Wood of The New Yorker wrote in 2011: "The Melancholy of Resistance is a comedy of apocalypse, a book about a God that not only failed but didn't even turn up for the exam. Less manic, less entrapped than War and War, it has elements of a traditional social novel." Wood continued: "The Melancholy of Resistance is a demanding book, and a pessimistic one, too, since it seems to take repeated ironic shots at the possibility of revolution. ... The pleasure of the book, and a kind of resistance, as well, flows from its extraordinary, stretched, self-recoiling sentences, which are marvels of a loosely punctuated stream of consciousness."[2]
See also
References
- ^ Elley, Derek (2000-06-04). "Werckmeister Harmonies". Variety. Retrieved 2012-03-20.
- ^ Wood, James (2011-07-04). "The fiction of László Krasznahorkai". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2012-03-20.