In June 2012, László Krasznahorkai visited San Francisco, he met his readers at the legendary City Lights bookstore. I arrived late because parking is almost impossible in the North Beach neighborhood where the bookstore is located, and I could barely fight my way into the event. He is almost a cult figure in California literary circles.
City Lights is probably San Francisco’s most famous bookstore, it is a landmark, and it was founded by poet/painter Lawrence Ferlinghetti who turned down the 50,000 euro Hungarian PEN Prize in 2012. Ferlinghetti explained in a letter to former Hungarian Secretary of State for Culture and Hungarian PEN Club president Géza Szőcs, that his decision not to accept the award was because some of the 50,000 euro prize money came from the Orbán government.
Mr. Krasznahorkai in San Francisco’s City Lights bookstore in 2012.
He wrote: “Since the Prize is partially funded by the present Hungarian government, and since the policies of this right-wing regime tend toward authoritarian rule and the consequent curtailing of freedom of expression and civil liberties, I find it impossible for me to accept the Prize in the United States. Thus I must refuse the Prize in its present terms.”
This week Mr. László Krasznahorkai won the sixth Man Booker International Prize. The trophy comes with £60,000, (about $93,000), and it is awarded every two years for a body of work published in English or available in English translation.
The talented Mr. Krasznahorkai is very lucky with his English translators. Several of his works are available in English: The Melancholy of Resistance, Sátántangó, Seiobo There Below. I think that his tremendous success wouldn’t be possible without the superb translations of George Szirtes and Ottilie Mulzet. George Szirtes, the Hungarian-born British poet, already won the American Best Translated Book Award in 2013 for his brilliant English adaptation of Sátántangó.
Congratulations to Mr. Krasznahorkai and thanks for the San Francisco visit. Hope to see you back soon!
György Lázár
