Translator Ottilie Mulzet joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to talk about her award-winning translations of Nobel Prize winner László Krasznahorkai’s work. Mulzet, who was born in Canada and now lives in the Czech Republic, discusses how she learned Hungarian and began working with Krasznahorkai. She explains the humor in his novels and how his background in music shapes his prose. Mulzet also reflects on the timeliness of his writing and the breadth of his influences, including Europe and Asia more broadly. She considers its political context, including the Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orbán’s recent Kulturkampf, or efforts to control Hungarian cultural production. Mulzet reads an excerpt from Herscht 07769, which takes its title from the protagonist’s decision to write German Chancellor Angela Merkel a letter using only his name and postcode as a return address.

To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/

This podcast is produced by V.V. Ganeshananthan, Whitney Terrell, Amelia Fisher, Victoria Freisner, Wil Lasater, and S E Walker.

Ottilie Mulzet's Translations of László Krasznahorkai

Herscht 07769

A Mountain to the North, a Lake to the South, Paths to the West, a River to the East

Seiobo There Below

Destruction and Sorrow beneath the Heavens: Reportage

Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming

The World Goes On

Animalinside

Others:

Under a Pannonian Sky: Ten Women Poets from Hungary edited by Ottilie Mulzet

George Szirtes

"An Angel Passed Above Us" | The Yale Review 

Hungarian Translators House

"Herscht 07769 by László Krasznahorkai review – sinister cosmic visions" | The Guardian 

"Laszlo Krasznahorkai’s Novels Find a U.S. Audience" | The New York Times

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