The close link between Krasznahorkai's literary work and cinema

Daniel López Aguilar and Fabiola Palapa Quijas

La Jornada Newspaper, Friday, October 10, 2025, p. 5

The work of Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai, winner of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature, maintains a close connection with the cinema of his compatriot Béla Tarr, who gave rise to some of the most unique productions in European arthouse cinema.

Their first major joint work was Satanic Tango (1994), based on the 1985 novel of the same name. The film, which is over seven hours long, maintains the book's circular structure with 12 chapters that move back and forth, and shows the rural stagnation along with the moral corruption present in Krasznahorkai's narrative.

Tarr transformed the long paragraphs into multi-minute sequence shots; mud, rain, and silence replace the words, transforming the literary universe into visually powerful images.

Six years later, Werckmeister Harmonies (2000) adapted the novel Melancholy of Resistance (1989).

A small Hungarian village was shaken by the arrival of a circus bringing a huge stuffed whale and a character called The Prince, whose presence unleashed chaos among the inhabitants. Filmed in black and white, the film constituted a visual study of order and entropy, purity and corruption, with a ritual stillness that amplified the symbolic nature of the story.

In The Man from London (2007), adapted from a novel by Georges Simenon, Krasznahorkai wrote the script with Tarr and brought his signature philosophical tone.

Maloin, a railway worker, finds a briefcase of money in the middle of a murder of which he is the only witness.

The story focuses on specific objects, such as a cat or a dance, expands time and image, and raises reflections on the decline of humanism.

His most recent film work was The Turin Horse (2011), loosely inspired by Nietzsche and an original idea by the Hungarian novelist.

The script, written by both and co-directed by Ágnes Hranitzky, proposed a meditation on the exhaustion of the world and the final silence of human beings, representing a closure for their creative bond.

In 2024, László Krasznahorkai visited Mexico to participate in the Guadalajara International Book Fair.

During his stay, he gave a speech as winner of the Formentor Prize and shared his experience with cinema in several interviews.

He explained that, after several initial refusals, he finally agreed to work with Béla Tarr on Satanic Tango, an experience that marked "the beginning of a fruitful creative relationship."

He stated that his style “emerged naturally, closer to music than to traditional writing,” and emphasized that both literature and film allow him to explore the human condition.

"My work addresses universal issues that transcend borders and cultures. I also observe a particular sensitivity among Mexican readers toward themes such as hopelessness, ghosts, and the rituals of everyday life."

Armando G. Tejeda

Correspondent

La Jornada Newspaper, Friday, October 10, 2025, p. 5

Madrid. The two main institutions in Spain for the defense and promotion of the language are the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) and the Cervantes Institute. Just one week before the start of the International Congress on the Language (CILE) in Arequipa, Peru, they have entered into an open and public war, with harsh criticism of each other.

The origin of the confrontation was statements by the director of the Cervantes Institute, the Granada-born poet Luis García Montero, who has held the position since 2018, after being appointed by the current government of Socialist Pedro Sánchez. At a breakfast press conference in Madrid, the writer accused the current president of the RAE, Santiago Muñoz Machado, of being "an expert in conducting business for multi-million-dollar companies." He lamented that the RAE "is in the hands of a professor of administrative law who is an expert in conducting business from his office for multi-million-dollar companies, and that, personally, also creates distances. We have to collaborate, and we try to collaborate; for that, we must respect independence. No one has the right to be at the center and tell others how to speak, but rather to maintain unity within the respect for each person's ability to speak Spanish."

Regarding the rift between the two institutions, he added that it had gone unnoticed until now: “I have to admit that, as a philologist, I was used to talking with Fernando Lázaro Carreter, with Víctor García de la Concha, with Darío Villanueva… great philologists and great men of culture.”

The Royal Academy's response came hours later—partly because some of its members are already in Peru—through a statement warning that the RAE "is deliberating on the statements made this morning by the director of the Cervantes Institute, Luis García Montero, to the media. The secretary general of the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language is also present. The plenary session unanimously agreed to express its absolute condemnation of Mr. García Montero's incomprehensible statements, completely unfortunate and inappropriate on the eve of the start of the CILE."

They add that "this is a fundamental occasion for Spanish culture and language, bringing together representatives from all Spanish-speaking nations, which the director of the Cervantes Institute has clouded with his statements."

They maintain that "the director of the Royal Spanish Academy has been democratically elected twice by the institution's full body, and is not only an expert jurist, but also one of the most renowned essayists and historians in our country, with awards such as the National Essay and History Prizes, in addition to countless accolades from Spanish and foreign academies and universities.

“The attack on its director and president, who has done extraordinary work in the seven years he has led both institutions, offends the RAE and the Association of Language Academies.”

They conclude with a veiled criticism of the Cervantes Institute: "The qualitative differences between the meritorious work of the RAE and any other institution that deals with Spanish and its culture in the world are evident."