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A review by jonbrammer
Satantango by László Krasznahorkai
5.0
The epigraph by Kafka is illuminating: the influence is everywhere in this mysterious and bleak novel, especially in the section near the end where bureaucrats are attempting to translate each character into official government idiom. There is also some of Beckett's absurdism, and the tone is very 19th century Russian, especially Dostoevsky. The girl Esti echoes Stinking Lizaveta in the Brothers Karamazov, as a kind of human symbol of suffering.
The religious aspect of the story is most striking. The residents of the farm collective are trapped in a type of purgatory, as they wait for Irimias to arrive and redeem them. There is a Mary Magdalene character (Mrs. Schmidt), and Irimias supposedly returns from the dead, which is never fully explained. At the end, the characters are spread to the wind by Irimias as they wait for paradise to come at the manor, much like Jesus' disciples are scattered to spread the word of the Gospel.
Which makes me wonder about the title and the source of evil in the story. The doctor at the end is writing the novel as it cycles back to the beginning, and it is notable that he along with Esti's family are the only characters left behind at the collective. The symbol of the bell ringing at the beginning of the end was evocative, especially once the doctor finds out that it is just an "idiot" making the noise (Macbeth allusion?). The doctor returns to his chair, his drinking, and his writing. He embodies the malaise that trapped the other characters in the village. That he is writing the story means that he has some omniscience and power over the characters' lives. The tango in the title is the drunken dance the characters do as they wait in the bar for Irimias. This time loop is the trap that Satan has sprung for them. The book is saying that, although the Christ-figure is probably also a con man, and his promises of paradise are lies, the real evil is in the debauched stasis of the character's lives before his arrival.
Just my interpretation.
The religious aspect of the story is most striking. The residents of the farm collective are trapped in a type of purgatory, as they wait for Irimias to arrive and redeem them. There is a Mary Magdalene character (Mrs. Schmidt), and Irimias supposedly returns from the dead, which is never fully explained. At the end, the characters are spread to the wind by Irimias as they wait for paradise to come at the manor, much like Jesus' disciples are scattered to spread the word of the Gospel.
Which makes me wonder about the title and the source of evil in the story. The doctor at the end is writing the novel as it cycles back to the beginning, and it is notable that he along with Esti's family are the only characters left behind at the collective. The symbol of the bell ringing at the beginning of the end was evocative, especially once the doctor finds out that it is just an "idiot" making the noise (Macbeth allusion?). The doctor returns to his chair, his drinking, and his writing. He embodies the malaise that trapped the other characters in the village. That he is writing the story means that he has some omniscience and power over the characters' lives. The tango in the title is the drunken dance the characters do as they wait in the bar for Irimias. This time loop is the trap that Satan has sprung for them. The book is saying that, although the Christ-figure is probably also a con man, and his promises of paradise are lies, the real evil is in the debauched stasis of the character's lives before his arrival.
Just my interpretation.