László Krasznahorkai Quotes

So, doing nothing, he simply remained on the alert, careful to preserve his failing memory against the decay that consumed everything around him, much as he had done from the moment that he — once the closing of the estate had been announced and he personally had decided to stay behind and survive on what remained until “the decision to reverse the closure should be taken” — had gone up to the mill with the elder Horgos girl to observe the terrible racket of the abandonment of the place, with everyone rushing round and shouting, the trucks in the distance like refugees fleeing the scene, when it seemed to him that the mill’s death-sentence had brought the whole estate to a condition of near collapse, and from that day on he felt too weak to halt by himself the triumphal progress of the wrecking process, however he might try, there being nothing he could do in the face of the power that ruined houses, walls, trees and fields, the birds that dived from their high stations, the beasts that scurried forth, and all human bodies, desires and hopes, knowing he wouldn’t, in any case, have the strength, however he tried, to resist this treacherous assault on humanity; and, knowing this, he understood, just in time, that the best he could do was to use his memory to fend off the sinister, underhanded process of decay, trusting in the fact that since all that mason might build, carpenter might construct, woman might stitch, indeed all that men and women had brought forth with bitter tears was bound to turn to an undifferentiated, runny, underground, mysteriously ordained mush, his memory would remain lively and clear, right until his organs surrendered and “conformed to the contract whereby their business affairs were wound up,” that is to say until his bones and flesh fell prey to the vultures hovering over death and decay.

كانت روحه محطمة لكنها ظلت ترعى أملًا غامضًا

Apple cores, bits of old boots, watch-straps, overcoat buttons, rusted keys, everything, he coolly noted, that man may leave his mark by, was here, though it wasn’t so much this ‘icy museum of pointless existence’ that astonished him (for there was nothing remotely new about the particular range of exhibits), but the way this slippery mass snaking between the houses, like a pale reflection of the sky, illuminated everything with its unearthly, dull, silvery phosphorescence.

This was a vital part of the process of simple realization, the realization that knowledge led either to wholesale illusion or to irrational depression.

Halics’s whole body felt as though it had lost definition and, as for his coat, it had lost whatever resistance to water it once had nor could it protect him from the roaring cataract of fate, or, as he tended to say, “the rain of death in the heart,” a rain that beat, day and night, against both his withered heart and defenseless organs.

Orele treceau greu, noroc ca era de mult stricat ceasul, nu se auzea ticaitul monoton care sa le aminteasca de trecerea anevoioasa a timpului.

Brusc, simti un gust acru pe limba si crezu ca a sosit moartea. (...) era atent, zi de zi, la gustul mancarii, deoarece stia ca moartea se instaleaza mai intai supe, in carnuri, in pereti; mesteca indelung fiecare bucatica de mancare, inghitea incet apa sau, rar, vinul, iar uneori simtea o dorinta irezistibila sa rupa o bucata din tencuiala plina cu pete de salpetru de pe peretii din sala masinilor de la vechea casa a pompelor, unde locuia, si s-o guste, ca-n anomalia ce tulbura ordinea aromelor, gusturilor sa recunoasca Semnul, convins fiind ca moartea este doar un soi de atentionare, nicidecum o irevocabilitate disperata.

Faith, thought Eszter, recognizing his own stupidity, is not a matter of believing something, but believing that somehow things could be different; in the same way, music was not the articulation of some better part of ourselves, or a reference to some notion of a better world, but a disguising of the fact of our irredeemable selves and the sorry state of the world, but no, not merely a disguising but a complete, twisted denial of such facts: it was a cure that did not work, a barbiturate that functioned as an opiate.

...végső soron az egyszerű bizalmat abban, hogy van hagyomány, hogy ez a hagyomány a megfigyelésre, az ismétlésre és a természet belső rendjének és a dolgok természetének a tiszteletére épül, s hogy ennek a hagyománynak sem az értelme, sem a tisztasága kétségbe nem vonható.

it’s precisely the infinite that casts light upon how the brain thinks, and how clever it is in showing us something that seems real when it’s merely an abstraction, namely that brain introduced or employed to great effect those methods of distortion, that dislocation

They’re waiting patiently, like the long-suffering lot they are, in the firm conviction that someone has conned them. They are waiting, belly to the ground, like cats at pig-killing time, hoping for scraps

(...)de tal manera que no sólo apareciera la imagen, sino la realidad misma de la perfección paradisíaca que, aun dando la impresión de mostrar un mar inquieto, olas arremolinadas en torno a rocas salvajes, sumía a quien la veía en la inconmensurable simplicidad de la belleza, en la sensación de que todo existe y nada existe todavía, de que las cosas y procesos que viven a una velocidad inasible y terrible, encerrados en la necesidad aparentemente inagotable del alumbramiento y la desaparición, pueden soportar aun así una regularidad fascinante que es tan profunda como la impotencia de las palabras ante un paisaje incomprensible e inaccesible por su hermosura, como la fría secuencia de las miríadas de olas en la enorme extensión del océano, como un patio en un monasterio donde en la calma de una superficie cubierta uniformemente con guijarros blancos y rastrillada primorosamente pueden posarse y descansar unos ojos asustados, una mirada perdida en el delirio, una mente abatida, y experimentar cómo cobra vida de pronto un pensamiento antiquísimo de contenido ya ensombrecido y cómo comienza a verse de súbito que: sólo existe el todo, no los detalles.

...mert maguk voltak a létezés, miközben a létezésből mégis ki voltak zárva, vagyis oly közel estek a létezéshez, hogy azonossá váltak vele, és a létezés nem látszik soha, így hát ha itt voltak is, amikor nem voltak itt, belőlük soha nem maradt semmi, csak a vágyakozás, hogy jöjjenek, csak a félelem, hogy jönni fognak, csak az emlékük maradt, hogy jártak itt, de a legfájóbb az volt, nézett föl Genji herceg unokája az égre, hogy amelyik egyszer itt volt, az soha többé nem jött vissza.

Tam o anda tüm olan biteni neyin harekete geçirdiğini kavradı, varoluşun itici gücünün mecburiyet olduğunu, itici gücün motivasyonu doğurduğunu, motivasyonun ise belirlenmiş ilişkiler içinde saldırgan bir katılımı sağladığını, varlığımızın bulunduğu bu katılım noktasından, araştırmacı reflekslerinin önceden belirlenmiş dizisini kullanarak kendisi için faydalı olanı bulmaya çabaladığı noktada, varlığın tümlüğünün aslında bu arzulanan ilişkinin gerçekte var olup olmamasına bağlı olduğunu, tüm bunların sabrın yeterliliğine, mücadelenin incelikli noktalarına ve tesadüflerine göre şekillendiği ve başarılı hareketin, benliksiz varlığın, tam deneme yanılma niteliği taşıdığını kavradı.

Çünkü dünyanın kendisini katbekat aştığını biliyor, kendisinin de aralarında olduğu, o sessiz yuvalarında onurluluk ve ağırbaşlılığın ufak vahasında yaşayanların, dışarıda neler olup bittiğini korkudan titreyerek düşündükleri sırada, kirli sakallının tüm barbar soyunun, o yoldan çıkmış süprüntüler sürüsünün, içgüdüsel bir güvenle dizginleri ele geçireceğini de açıkça görebiliyordu.