His 2021 book Herscht 07769 has been described as a great contemporary German novel, due to its accuracy in portraying the country’s social unrest just before the pandemic.
It’s a portrayal of a contemporary small town in Thüringen, Germany, troubled by social anarchy, murder and arson.
British publisher The Serpent’s Tail describes the plot of the novel, external, saying: “Gentle giant Florian Herscht is an orphan, adopted by a neo-Nazi who has apprenticed him as a graffiti cleaner.
“The Boss, a Bach fanatic, is enraged that someone is spraying wolf emblems across the monuments to the famed composer in their east German town.”
The Guardian’s Tanjil Rashid, external described it as “accordingly bleak from start to finish”.
Krasznahorkai’s most recent satirical novel, Zsömle Odavan, returns to Hungary.
The protagonist is 91-year-old Uncle Józsi Kada, who has a secret claim to the throne but has gone to great lengths to disappear from the world.
