Publisher: Tuskar Rock

Like a Fading Shadow by Antonio Muñoz Molina

Posted May 16, 2018 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Historical Fiction / 4 Comments

Title: Like a Fading Shadow (Goodreads)
Author: Antonio Muñoz Molina
Translator: Camilo A. Ramirez
Published: Tuskar Rock, 2017
Pages: 320
Genres: Historical Fiction
My Copy: Library Book

Buy: Amazon, Book Depository, Kindle, Wordery (or visit your local Indie bookstore)

Shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize 2018

In 1968, James Earl Ray evaded the authorities after shooting Martin Luther King Jr. by using a fake passport and making his way to Portugal. During his last days of freedom, he wanders around Lisbon rehearsing his fake identities. In Like a Fading Shadow, Antonio Muñoz Molina reconstructs Ray’s final days, but it is also a meditation on the city that also inspired his first novel A Winter in Lisbon. Turning this into a blend of historical fiction and memoir, Muñoz Molina’s tries to weave his own experiences in with that of a man on the FBI’s Most Wanted list.

Everything about this novel sounded so appealing from the premise but reading it was so difficult. First of all, I thought the idea of having the James Earl Ray narrative interwoven with that of Antonio Muñoz Molina’s did not work as well as the author might have hoped. In hindsight, it would have been better to just read A Winter in Lisbon and then search the internet about Earl Ray’s final days. Secondly, I felt like this book kept going in circles and never really progressing in any satisfactory way. Which is disappointing because I think this was one of the books on the Man Booker International Prize longlist that I was excited to read.

This is so disappointing, the idea to make a fictionalised account of what might have happened when James Earl Ray was in Portugal sounds amazing. I was fascinated that he was able to sneak across the border to Canada and use a fake passport to get to London and eventually make it all the way to Lisbon. He spent his time trying to get to Angola, which alone would have made for an interesting narrative; why is a pro-white supremacist trying to get to Africa? Then you have this memoir-like narrative of Antonio Muñoz Molina trying to write his first novel, A Winter in Lisbon. Separately this could be stimulating to explore the writer’s process and the emotions behind creating a novel. However, as a combination it ended up to be too little of each and together it never came together.

The Man Booker International Prize longlist has been focusing on narratives the blend fiction and non-fiction and I can see why this book was picked but I do not see the appeal for it to make the shortlist. I wanted to love this book; I went in with high expectations but I ended up struggling through this. Between this and The Imposters (which is very similar in many ways) I almost found myself in a reading slump. Thankfully Flights by Olga Tokarczuk was there to save me.

The World Goes On by László Krasznahorkai

Posted April 12, 2018 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Short Stories / 0 Comments

Title: The World Goes On (Goodreads)
Author: László Krasznahorkai
Translator: Ottilie Mulzet, George Szirtes, John Batki
Published: Tuskar Rock, 2017
Pages: 320
Genres: Short Stories
My Copy: Library Book

Buy: Amazon, Book Depository, Kindle, Wordery (or visit your local Indie bookstore)

Shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize 2018

I normally struggle to review short story collections, do I go through every story and share my opinions? Reading The World Goes On, all I could think is ‘I have no clue how to analyse and review this’. Rather than a review, I am going to just share my thoughts on this book, and hopefully it will eventually resemble a review.

The World Goes On is actually my second László Krasznahorkai, having read The Last Wolf / Herman earlier this year. I was struck with the thought that this might be the first Krasznahorkai that people might read. László Krasznahorkai won the Man Booker International Prize in 2015, before it was repackaged and combined with the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize (IFFP). However the publicsity around that award is nothing like it is today. This could be a combination of the older prize awarding an author for their contribution to fiction rather than a specific book and the rise of social media. Which brings me back to my original point, The World Goes On has been longlisted for the prize but it is not a good place to start for this Hungarian author. This feels like fragments of stories and ideas rather than an actual piece of fiction.

I think the judges for the 2018 Man Booker International Prize has gone out of their way to pick a longlist that showcases interesting narrative structures. While I appreciate the surprising entries on the list, it does make it less accessible. Having said that, I would be so mad if the Man Booker International Prize followed the trend of the Man Booker Prize and Women’s Prize for Fiction and just picked the most popular books. I want to see a balance between discovery and introducing new people to books in translation. I would hate to think how many people will not read more László Krasznahorkai because of The World Goes On.

László Krasznahorkai is a very talented writer; he has a post-modernist style, and it feels like he gets so bored, he has to set limitations on his own writing. In The World Goes On, you will find plenty of examples of him writing a one sentence story. I have to admit after reading this book and The Last Wolf, I wonder what Krasznahorkai has against the full stop. Like I said before, this feels more like a collection of ideas rather than short stories.

While I enjoy László Krasznahorkai as a writer, even I think I was not ready for The World Goes On. I am not giving up on this author, this is a book for the fans. Read The Last Wolf / Herman first, discover some of his novels and if you like his style and his view on the world, then read The World Goes On. I do not think this should have been on the longlist, and I hope it does not stop many people from enjoying László Krasznahorkai in the future.

The Last Wolf / Herman by László Krasznahorkai

Posted March 20, 2018 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Literary Fiction / 2 Comments

Title: The Last Wolf / Herman (Goodreads)
Author: László Krasznahorkai
Translator: George Szirtes, John Batki
Published: Tuskar Rock, 2009
Pages: 120
Genres: Literary Fiction
My Copy: Hardcover

Buy: Amazon, Book Depository, Kindle, Wordery (or visit your local Indie bookstore)

László Krasznahorkai is one of those authors that has been on my radar for a long time. Not because I always wondered how to pronounce his name (I know now) but because this Hungarian author’s books were always labeled as difficult or demanding. I like a challenge but I thought I might start with something small. I was told that The Last Wolf was a good introduction to László Krasznahorkai and it was not because of the blurb by Sjón on the cover. The edition pairs two novellas together, The Last Wolf and Herman.

The Last Wolf is a 70 page long sentence, which means you really need to read it in one sitting. I myself turned back to page one and reread the whole thing the next day. Not because it was dense (it is) but because I was captivated by the writing. How often are you able to find a sentence that long that flows so smoothly?

The novella is about a failed philosophy professor who is asked to write about the last wolf in the Spanish region of Extremadura. Although it is another who is conveying the tale to a bartender in Berlin. This narrative is an interesting journey, full of philosophical musing and some self-loathing. It left me wondering if László Krasznahorkai just wrote a satirical jab at himself. It is hard to say more about these stories, you really need to experience them yourself.

While Herman does share similarities, they were originally published twenty-three years apart. Told in two parts, firstly you learn about a master trapper who is clearing a forest of ‘noxious beasts’ in ‘The Game Warden’. While the other story (‘Death of a Craft’) is from the perspective of visitors to the same region. Trust me, these two parts sound like they do not go together but they do.

I am finding it really hard to talk about book, not just because both stories are dense and require many rereads but because it is difficult to express what happens in the books. I am not interested in giving a plot summary, you just have to experience László Krasznahorkai and this does seem like a good place to start. László Krasznahorkai won the last Man Book International Prize in 2015 before it was reincarnated into its current from. Originally the prize was awarded to an author for his entire body of work and he was recognised for his achievement in fiction on the world stage.