‘Farewell to Zsömle’ is a vividly written warning

Fiction | Farewell to Zsömle | László Krasznahorkai | Translated by Mari Alföldy | Wereldbibliotheek, €26.99 | 253 pages.

A 252-page story told in just a few sentences – only the very greatest writers know how to turn that into a readable narrative. The new novel by László Krasznahorkai, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature last year, is not only remarkable in form but also highly topical in content.

Last year, the Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai (72) was awarded the highest literary honour for his ‘compelling and visionary’ body of work, in which he ‘combines a dark view of life with exceptional linguistic vitality’. The writer has also earned such praise with his latest novel Farewell to Zsömle (2024) proves this to be truer than ever. This book, skilfully translated by Krasznahorkai’s regular translator Mari Alföldy, holds up a mirror. And, despite its subtle humour, it is no funhouse mirror.

Main character of Farewell to Zsömle is 91-year-old Jószef Kada, who lives with his dog Zsömle in an old cottage on a mountain in a remote village in northern Hungary. This ‘sprightly old chap’, as the villagers call him, is convinced that he is a distant descendant of the 13th-century Hungarian King Bela IV and a grandson of the grandson of the Mongol ruler Genghis Khan. In 1944, Jószef’s right to the throne was reportedly confirmed by a secret coronation. As well as being a war hero, Jószef was also knighted in the International Order of St George.

Jószef wonders whether the delivery of the knight’s sword might have given away his true identity. For one evening, a small group of people come knocking at his door – members of organisations such as the World National Party for People’s Rule, Lia for the Hungarian Monarchy, Blood and Honour or Arrows of the Hungarians, who have pinned their hopes on him: their ‘Majesty’ must pull Hungary out of the slump into which it has sunk. They see him, as King Jószef I, as the best candidate to lead the country towards the ‘True Hungarian Future’, which must be better than life under Viktor Orbán. Jószef, who for the time being allows them to call him ‘Uncle Jószi’, is flattered. Gradually, however, the plan takes on a more radical form and it transpires that the monarchists are plotting a violent attack. The conspiracy does not end well; the monarchists are arrested and Uncle Jószi is confined to a psychiatric institution.

Farewell to Zsömle is a typical Kraszanahorkai: a novel about illusion and reality, written in sentences that can easily span more than twenty pages. ‘The characters in my novels are desperate to say something,’ the author said a few years ago in an interview with this newspaper, ‘only commas are appropriate here, not full stops.’ And that is exactly how he wrote this book: without full stops, except at the end of a chapter.

It is mainly Jószi himself who speaks; his compelling, uninterrupted monologues are reminiscent of those of other contemporary world leaders who pass off their lies and fantasies as the truth. The story also brings to mind the foiled coup by the German far-right ‘Reichsbürger’ movement, which, led by an elderly prince, sought to overthrow democracy.

That makes the novel highly topical. Farewell to Zsömle is a reflection on how nationalism and extremism keep rearing their heads, how easily people allow themselves to be misled by a nostalgic longing or other motives, and how willing some are to overthrow democracy. A warning wrapped up in a lively, witty and, at times, moving book.

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