# satantango (novel) ![[sátántangó(krasznahorkailászló).png]] first edition cover (hungary) author: lászló krasznahorkai original title: sátántangó translator: george szirtes country: hungary language: hungarian publisher: magvető publication date: 1985 published in english: 2012 pages: 333 satantango (hungarian: sátántangó tr. "satan's tango") is a 1985 novel by the hungarian writer lászló krasznahorkai. it is krasznahorkai's debut novel. it was adapted into a widely acclaimed seven-hour film sátántangó (1994) directed by bela tarr. the english translation by george szirtes won the best translated book award (2013) # structure the novel is a postmodernist piece and is written with multiple perspectives and with the abeyance of time. the structure of the book's chapters resemble a tango with 6 "steps" forward followed by 6 backward. every chapter is a long paragraph which does not contain line breaks. the twelve parts are titled as follows (in the original hungarian and in english translation) **+** i. a hír hogy jönnek **+** ii. feltámadunk **+** iii. valamit tudni **+** iv. a pók dolga i **+** v. felfeslők **+** vi. a pók dolga ii (ördögcsecs sátántangó) **+** vi. irimiás beszedet mond **+** v. a távlat ha szemből **+** iv. mennybe menni? lázálmodni? **+** iii. a távlat ha hátulról **+** ii. csak a gond a munka **+** i. a kör bezárul # plot most of the action occurs in a run-down hungarian village ("estate") which is in a vicinity of an unnamed town but the inhabitants are almost isolated from the outside world. the main character irimiás a con man posing as a savior arrives at the estate achieves an almost unlimited power over the inhabitants gets them to give ir all ir hard-earned money convinces them to move to another abandoned "estate" nearby and then brings them to the town where ey disperses them around the country. the purpose of the whole exercise is to give irimiás money and power # reception jacob silverman of the new york times reviewed the book in 2012 and wrote that it "shares many of's later novels' thematic concerns - the abeyance of time an apocalyptic sense of crisis and decay - but it's an altogether more digestible work. its story skips around in perspective and temporality but the narrative is rarely unclear. for a writer whose characters often exhibit a claustrophobic interiority krasznahorkai also shows himself to be unexpectedly expansive and funny here" theo tait in the guardian praised the novel and in particular said that it is "possessed of a distinctive compelling vision." ey noted that there is influence of franz kafka and samuel beckett visible in the novel // republic of bob