The Melancholy of Resistance by László Krasznahorkai
A Liza's Book Club Study Guide
Welcome back to another month of Liza’s Book Club! For the month of October, we read the eerie The Melancholy of Resistance by László Krasznahorkai—a perfect Halloween read.
The following post contains novel spoilers, so proceed at your own discretion. If you have not yet read The Melancholy of Resistance, you can pick up your copy here and join us back here once you’re done!
OVERVIEW
The Melancholy of Resistance centers around a mysterious circus that sends a grim Hungarian town spiraling into chaos. At the center of this circus is a massive stuffed whale that portends doom and unrest. The novel is a political allegory that explores themes of power, resistance, and the fragility of order, weaving together the lives of the town’s inhabitants as they confront the absurdity of existence. Through a tapestry of dense prose and a Kafkaesque atmosphere, Krasznahorkai meditates on societal collapse and the individual's struggle against external forces.
LÁSZLÓ KRASZNAHORKAI: A SHORT BIOGRAPHY
László Krasznahorkai is a Hungarian author known for his bleak, challenging novels. His debut novel, Satantango, brought him critical acclaim and established him as one of Eastern Europe’s most influential contemporary authors. In The Melancholy of Resistance, he explores the instability of post-Soviet Eastern Europe through intricate paragraphs and dense sentences. The novel—considered one of his most important works—reflects the Hungarian sociopolitical landscape of the 1980s through themes of despair, anarchy, and moral decay.
CHARACTERS
Valuska: A young man who assists the eccentric Mrs. Eszter, Valuska embodies innocence and passivity—specifically through his childlike fascination with the cosmos— but is drawn into the chaos that follows the arrival of the circus.
Mrs. Eszter: Tünde Eszter is an ambitious, manipulative woman who seeks power over the town and uses the arrival of the circus as an excuse to implement her desired fascistic regime. Her cold rationality, contrasting with Valuska's naivety, plays a key role in her attempt to impose order amidst anarchy.
Mr. Eszter: A reclusive former music teacher, Mr. Eszter is Mrs. Eszter’s estranged husband. He is fascinated by the concept of entropy and believes the world is in irreversible decline. His pessimism and detachment make him a powerful foil to Mrs. Eszter’s pragmatic ambition.
The Prince: The Prince is a shadowy, near-mythical figure who arrives with the circus and incites fear and unrest among the townspeople. He represents chaos and a latent threat to the established order.
SUMMARY
On a bleak evening, the elderly Mrs. Plauf, on her way home to her small Hungarian town, observes a spirit of unrest in the air. Settling herself in her apartment, she receives a visit from the brash Mrs. Eszter, an authoritarian figure who demands Mrs. Plauf’s help in convincing her husband, the dreamy Mr. Eszter, with whom she split long ago, to participate in her new project to bring order to the decaying town. Mrs. Plauf declines and sends Mrs. Eszter on her way.
A palpable sense of dread spreads over the town with the arrival of a mysterious circus featuring a giant stuffed whale. As the townsfolk become increasingly fascinated by the whale, we meet the young Valuska, a starry-eyed drunkard who works odd jobs and has a particular fascination with the cosmos. Valuska works for the former music teacher Mr. Eszter (Mrs. Eszter’s estranged husband), whom he considers a close friend.
Mrs. Eszter approaches Valuska for help blackmailing Mr. Eszter into doing her bidding, threatening to move back in with Mr. Eszter if Mr. Eszter does not cooperate.. After a night of drinking, Valuska sets out to consult with Eszter and convinces him to join his wife's “Clean Up the Town” initiative. As Valuska and Mr. Eszter part, Valuska overhears the circus director arguing with a mysterious figure known as “The Prince” who threatens to split with the circus troupe and informs the circus director that he has the power to incite his followers to participate in a violent uprising. When the circus director brushes him off, the Prince compels his followers to riot, pushing the town into chaos and unrest.
As Mr. Eszter boards up his windows, he learns that Valuska has joined the rioters. Mr. Eszter sets out to find Valuska but instead stumbles on a town hall hearing from one of the rioters. He finds that Mrs. Eszter has begun a strategic push to take control of the town council, exploiting the growing disorder for her own benefit. Unable to locate Valuska, Mr. Eszter returns to a reclusive lifestyle, finding solace in the music of Bach.
The riots allow Mrs. Eszter to fully establish her “Clean Up the Town” regime, which compels all townspeople to follow strict orders. The novel closes with the funeral of Mrs. Plauf, who was murdered by the rioters.
THEMES
Order and Chaos: The arrival of the circus disturbs the fragile stability of an already decaying town, illustrating how societal order is easily upended by chaos and uncertainty. Krasznahorkai shows us the fine line between order and chaos and asks us to consider whether order is really the more desirable outcome.
Resistance and Submission: The novel’s title reflects the tension between resisting change and surrendering to the inevitable. While Mrs. Eszter resists chaos through control, Valuska embodies submission and accepts the universe’s unpredictability through his childlike wonder.
The Fragility of Society: Krasznahorkai paints a grim picture of how quickly societal norms can disintegrate. The town’s descent into violence and despair underscores the precariousness of human constructs and the underlying potential for collapse.
The Absurdity of Existence: The novel’s existential tone portrays life as arbitrary and incomprehensible. The whale—itself an absurdity—can be read as a symbol of humanity’s inability to find meaning in the face of the absurd.
FURTHER STUDY QUESTIONS
How does Krasznahorkai use the setting of a small Hungarian town to amplify the novel’s existential themes?
In what ways do the characters’ responses to the circus reflect their attitudes toward change and instability?
How does Mrs. Eszter’s pursuit of control comment on the human desire for power in times of crisis?
What does the Prince represent, and how does his presence impact the town’s dynamics?
How does the novel’s bleak, dense prose style contribute to its themes of despair and existential anxiety?
What role does the giant whale play symbolically, and how does it influence the characters’ understanding of their world?
Sounds terrific. I'll put it on my to-read list. Thanks.
I read it when it first came out in English and while i remember very well the gloomy atmosphere, the beautiful, page- long sentences, and even some of the characters, i had forgotten most of the plot. You did a very good job at summarizing it. Almost all of LK's novels have an apocalyptic theme.