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A review by woolfen
Satantango by László Krasznahorkai
5.0
4.5 Stars.
"Go wash my old bones," he grumbled. "Give them a good wash, since this ancient piece of shit won't be around much longer."
Stylistically, this is a hard book to read. Each chapter is one paragraph - with no breaks and with dialogue unseperated from the body, and characters thoughts represented in speech. The chapter layouts represent a Tango step process - 6 forwards and 6 back - and the story similarly follows this ebb and flow - with the orgiastic dance of the villagers representing the peak and Irimias' monologue on the death of Esti starting the downfall.
Set 'in the darkening embers of a Communist utopia' this book is dutifully stark, unremitting and committed to representing realism. The delusion of the hopes that each character feels is so blatant and hollow. Things won't be different, nothing can be done in the face of the disconnect with the success of the past.
The villagers destroy their homes in mindless, hopeful vandalism, so as to break from their past and bind themselves to Irimias' golden vision of the future. Reading this, it feels so pointless - what else can these people who have nothing, who have given what little they had - do? Futaki's break and subsequent disillusion still provides him no escape - instead his critical suspicions only mark him out as dangerous in the end.
As a spectrum - I found the characters quite one-dimensional, each given one major representing factor. The (hyper-sexualised) beauty of Mrs. Schmidt, the (capitalist) greed of the Innkeeper, the religious fervour of Mrs. Halics, the drunken addiction of Mrs. Horgos. However, it could be said that this reduction is a product of their surroundings - and is exacerbated by the perceptions of the others, and as a process for relating to and dealing with their daily lives. Each character's mono-dimension is an intersectional area of debate in terms of statehood and individuality, providing insight into post-Soviet politics.
The ending, gives such an incredibly interesting spin to the rest of the book.
Would I watch a seven hour film of this? Probably.
"Go wash my old bones," he grumbled. "Give them a good wash, since this ancient piece of shit won't be around much longer."
Stylistically, this is a hard book to read. Each chapter is one paragraph - with no breaks and with dialogue unseperated from the body, and characters thoughts represented in speech. The chapter layouts represent a Tango step process - 6 forwards and 6 back - and the story similarly follows this ebb and flow - with the orgiastic dance of the villagers representing the peak and Irimias' monologue on the death of Esti starting the downfall.
Set 'in the darkening embers of a Communist utopia' this book is dutifully stark, unremitting and committed to representing realism. The delusion of the hopes that each character feels is so blatant and hollow. Things won't be different, nothing can be done in the face of the disconnect with the success of the past.
The villagers destroy their homes in mindless, hopeful vandalism, so as to break from their past and bind themselves to Irimias' golden vision of the future. Reading this, it feels so pointless - what else can these people who have nothing, who have given what little they had - do? Futaki's break and subsequent disillusion still provides him no escape - instead his critical suspicions only mark him out as dangerous in the end.
As a spectrum - I found the characters quite one-dimensional, each given one major representing factor. The (hyper-sexualised) beauty of Mrs. Schmidt, the (capitalist) greed of the Innkeeper, the religious fervour of Mrs. Halics, the drunken addiction of Mrs. Horgos. However, it could be said that this reduction is a product of their surroundings - and is exacerbated by the perceptions of the others, and as a process for relating to and dealing with their daily lives. Each character's mono-dimension is an intersectional area of debate in terms of statehood and individuality, providing insight into post-Soviet politics.
The ending, gives such an incredibly interesting spin to the rest of the book.
Spoiler
The doctor's diligent paranoia leads to a mental break, where he believes what he writes in his notebook accords to reality. This then moves diegetically into the beginning of the book. The Doctor carries on writing his delusions, and begins to write the beginning few pages of the book, at the end. He afflicts Futaki with the bells that he has heard throughout the story/ book... It's a wonderful use of the medium, flipping the whole story into an ergodic product of one of the characters.Would I watch a seven hour film of this? Probably.