Summary of Satantango
“Satantango” by Nobel Prize laureate Krasznahorkai is a post-modern novel about a messiah-like figure who arrives in a dilapidated Hungarian village, likely set during the communist era. He gains extensive control over the villagers and abuses their trust to exploit them.
Reasons to read Satantango
“Satantango” is the debut novel of Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai and is considered his most accessible book. It delves into themes of crisis, despair, and people’s longing for salvation. The English translation won the Best Translated Book Award in 2013. The novel was adapted into a seven-hour film, Sátántangó, in 1994 by Béla Tarr. Krasznahorkai is one of the most renowned contemporary Hungarian writers. He has received numerous literary accolades, including the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2025, the Man Booker International Prize in 2015, and the Austrian State Prize for European Literature in 2021.
Other notable works by Krasznahorkai include “The Melancholy of Resistance”, “Seiobo There Below”, “Herscht 07769”, and “Chasing Homer”.
Setting: Hungary
Book set in Hungary: Satantango is set in an unnamed, desolate hamlet somewhere on the Great Hungarian Plain
Original title: Sátántangó
Year of publication: 1985
Nr of pages: 288
