Alumnus Declan Spring 鈥�87 and Open Letter鈥檚 Chad Post reflect on the vision and voice of the newly minted Nobel laureate.
Hungarian novelist, essayist, and screenwriter L谩szl贸 Krasznahorkai has won the聽 for 鈥渉is compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art,鈥澛燼ccording to the Nobel committee. Calling him 鈥渁 great epic writer in the Central European tradition that extends through Kafka to Thomas Bernhard,鈥� the Swedish Academy, which awards the prize, describes his writings as marked by 鈥渁bsurdism and grotesque excess.鈥�
For 91原创 alumnus Declan Spring 鈥�87, the award was both thrilling and personal. Spring, executive vice president and senior editor at the legendary literary press New Directions, has edited Krasznahorkai in English for decades. 鈥淚 knew he deserved it, but waking up this morning was just unbelievable,鈥� says Spring. 鈥淚鈥檝e gotten quite close to L谩szl贸 and have worked on so many of his books. It was a very emotional experience.鈥�
Spring first became aware of Krasznahorkai when the late American critic Susan Sontag recommended the Hungarian author to his press after having read the British edition of .聽(Plus, it didn鈥檛 hurt that the New Directions team is close with the author鈥檚 German editor). From there, he and his colleagues recognized a voice that struck 鈥渁 powerful chord with all of us,鈥� recalls Spring.
Today, he says, the Nobel not only validates that vision but also provides crucial support for a lean publisher like New Directions that doesn鈥檛 publish commercial bestsellers: 鈥淲e spent all morning frantically figuring out with our printers and distributor how quickly we could get the reprints out. Most of all, we鈥檙e happy for L谩szl贸.鈥�
U91原创鈥檚 literary translation ties
Spring isn鈥檛 the only U91原创 connection. Chad Post鈥攚ho heads up , the University鈥檚 nonprofit, literary translation press鈥攈as long admired Krasznahorkai鈥檚 work and has met the author. 鈥淚t was only a matter of time until he won,鈥� Post says.
Post helped award Krasznahorkai鈥檚 translated novels back-to-back Best Translated Book Awards in 2013 () and again in 2014 ( The honor is administered by , the online literary magazine of Open Letter that publishes essays and reviews, and hosts podcasts.
Although Open Letter hasn鈥檛 published Krasznahorkai鈥檚 work directly, its translators have connections to U91原创. After all, it鈥檚 the work of translators, many of whom are authors themselves, that make books accessible to international audiences. (a pseudonym), who translated Seiobo There Below, spoke to Post鈥檚 graduate seminar on world literature and translation shortly after she won the Best Translated Book Award. The British poet and translator George Szirtes, another Krasznahorkai translator, had won the same award a year earlier.
Spring, who sits on Open Letter鈥檚 advisory board, has also returned to the U91原创 campus to speak to Post鈥檚 students about the art and craft of editing and publishing literary translations, and about his own formative experience at the University.
鈥淚 had the most brilliant and supportive professors,鈥� among them English faculty members Bruce Johnson and Russ McDonald, says Spring. 鈥淭hey gave me so much confidence and got me even more excited about literature than I already was.鈥�
Krasznahorkai鈥檚 singular style
Known for his dark and difficult novels, short stories, and essays, Krasznahorkai鈥檚 writing style is unmistakable.
Long, desultory sentences capture 鈥渢he state of being for regular people, usually living with a sense that the apocalypse is just around the corner,鈥� says Post.
Said apocalypse might come in the form of a Satan-like figure in his 1985 breakout debut novel , a strange circus in , or the rise of neo-Nazis in . His writing is driven by people rather than plot. As an example of his 鈥渓ooping, incredibly detailed sentences, which dazzle and overwhelm,鈥� yet eschew a single period for more than 2,000 words, Post points to the opening of Herscht:
Angela Merkel, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Willy-Brandt-Stra脽e 1, 10557 Berlin鈥攖hat was the address he wrote down; then, in the upper left-hand corner, he wrote only Herscht 07769 and nothing else, signaling, as it were, the confidential nature of this matter; no point, he thought, in wasting words by adding any more precise indicators of his own self, as the post office would send the reply back to Kana based on the postcode, and here, in Kana, the post office could get the letter to him based on his name; most essentially, everything was contained on the piece of paper which he had just now folded twice, nicely and accurately, slipping it into the envelope, everything formulated in his own words that began by noting that the Chancellor, a learned natural scientist, would clearly and immediately understand what was on his mind here in Kana, Thuringia鈥�
The challenge of his prose, however, offers abundant rewards to the patient reader. 鈥淗is voice,鈥� says Post, 鈥渋s unique and instantly identifiable, rendered beautifully by his translators.鈥�
Adds Spring, 鈥淗e writes with such pathos about the human condition, his characters are so human and vulnerable. His writing style is poetic and elegant and he鈥檚 lucky to have a truly brilliant translator, Ottilie Mulzet.鈥�
Krasznahorkai鈥檚 work has not only been translated on the page, but also to the big screen: Several of his novels have been adapted for film, most notably through his long collaboration with Hungarian director B茅la Tarr.
For both Post and Spring, Krasznahorkai鈥檚 Nobel Prize shines an international light on the work of an author whose uncompromising vision has shaped their professional lives鈥攁nd deepened U91原创鈥檚 place in the global literary conversation.
