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Zsomle is Waiting (Zsömle Odavan)

We have known many Krasznahorkai heroes who are on the run, but the protagonist of the author's new novel, 91-year-old Uncle Józsi Kada, has gone to great lengths to disappear from the world. And yet, he is found by his followers in an unnamed village in Hungary.

 

Kada has incognito in his blood, his family has kept his origins secret for several centuries and he doesn't want to brag about the fact that he, a retired electrician, is in fact a descendant of Béla IV and Genghis Khan and could claim the Hungarian throne under the name of Joseph I of Árpád. However, he wants nothing to do with politics. But what do his enthusiastic disciples have to say about this? They include a monarchist and a person preparing for paramilitary terrorist attacks who want to march on the capital and re-institute monarchy… Can the inevitable consequences be avoided?

 

After taking us to New York, Dalmatia and Thuringia in Germany in his previous books, László Krasznahorkai returns to carnival Hungary in this grotesque and satirical new novel.

 

Everyone is involved: the old king of Víkendháza as well as the guests who turn up, among whom is a wandering musician named László Krasznahorkai. And where is Uncle Józsi's guard dog, Zsömle? Is he lurking in the dark? Will he stay with us forever?

Publisher: Magveto
Territories: China: Zheijang Art & Lit; Greece: Polis; Italy: Bompiani; Romania: Trei