Krasznahorkai's oeuvre has a particular focus on futility, that the good times are behind us, that the future is nonexistent. Yet, there is spiritual resistance to this futility through art. Art exists wholly outside the sphere of our otherwise banal existence. Like in Herscht 07769, the protagonist claims that listening to Bach is the solution to the apocalypse as his music reveals, through transcendental beauty, that there is more to existence than what we can be tangibly experienced. In War & War, prose is the salvation to the human condition.

Nice review. I have yet to read László Krasznahorkai, but I constantly see his name and was curious as to the themes of his work. I will be reading Sátántangó eventually.
I’ve been loving him. Read Sátántangó last year and was pretty lukewarm on it, but the Melancholy of Resistance blew my mind last month, immediately picked up a bunch by him. The Melancholy of Resistance is easily his best for me so if you don’t like Sátántangó you should try it. Also if you do like Sátántangó you should try it.