The Last Wolf
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Description
Book Introduction
“A narrative as slow as a lava flow, a vast river of black letters.”
A mid-length collection by Man Booker International Prize-winning author László Krzysztof Nahorkai
Laszlo Krusnahorkai, the poet of the Apocalypse, stands alone
It gives us wonders! _The Economist
Stories like delicately shining jewels passed down from mouth to mouth,
An existential exploration of humanity from a unique and quirky author_Publisher's Weekly
"An artist who reawakened the power of art even amidst the fear of destruction."
Continuing our connection with Korean readers with the new work "Hersheyt 07769."
László Krásznáhorkaj, a master of modern Hungarian literature, has won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature.
The Nobel Committee stated that the award was given for “a powerful and visionary work that reawakens the power of art even in the face of the horrors of destruction,” and that he had shown again the possibility of a “prophetic language” that modern literature had lost.
A literary prophet walking the boundaries of language, between destruction and salvation.
Since his literary debut in 1985 with "Satantango," László Krzysztof Krzysztof Krzysztof has been a writer who has depicted the anxieties of human existence and the collapse of the world in his compelling prose. His prose, with its endlessly long sentences and intense narrative tension, immerses readers in a unique style that can be called a "reading exercise."
Alma Publishing has introduced the author's six representative works, "Satan Tango," "Melancholy of Resistance," "The Last Wolf," "The World Goes On," "The Descent of the Queen Mother of the West," and "The Return of Baron Wenkheim," to Korea, and plans to publish a new work, "Herscht 07769," in January 2026.
"Hersht 07769" depicts the journey of "Hersht," a man called by a number instead of a name, as he seeks to rediscover his identity and the meaning of language in a world after the collapse of civilization. In a society where communication is based solely on numbers and symbols, he encounters a world of humans whose names can no longer be called. This work is considered to be the author's later work that most densely embodies the "anxiety of existence" and "human possibilities after the end of language," which the author has consistently explored.
His literary works, which have expanded globally, have long cultivated a deep readership, even amidst a quiet resonance. This Nobel Prize in Literature marks the moment when his endless exploration of the origins of humanity and art is once again resurrected in the languages of the world, and will undoubtedly resonate deeply with readers.
Promotion of screenings of "Reading László Krzysztof ...
To commemorate this award, Alma Publishing will present a booklet titled "Reading László Krasnahorkai" (tentative title), which aims to bring readers closer to the world of literature, which is by no means easy but essential to read. The contributors include Professor Han Kyung-min, poet Jo Won-gyu, film critic Jeong Seong-il, literary critic Jang Eun-soo, critic Geum Jeong-yeon, and poet Kim Yu-tae, who will each interpret the author's world from their own perspectives.
Additionally, in order to expand and illuminate the author's literary world through film, we are promoting the screening of "Werckmeister Harmonies," based on the films "Satantango" and "Resistance Melancholy" by another world-renowned director, Tar Bella.
A mid-length collection by Man Booker International Prize-winning author László Krzysztof Nahorkai
Laszlo Krusnahorkai, the poet of the Apocalypse, stands alone
It gives us wonders! _The Economist
Stories like delicately shining jewels passed down from mouth to mouth,
An existential exploration of humanity from a unique and quirky author_Publisher's Weekly
"An artist who reawakened the power of art even amidst the fear of destruction."
Continuing our connection with Korean readers with the new work "Hersheyt 07769."
László Krásznáhorkaj, a master of modern Hungarian literature, has won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature.
The Nobel Committee stated that the award was given for “a powerful and visionary work that reawakens the power of art even in the face of the horrors of destruction,” and that he had shown again the possibility of a “prophetic language” that modern literature had lost.
A literary prophet walking the boundaries of language, between destruction and salvation.
Since his literary debut in 1985 with "Satantango," László Krzysztof Krzysztof Krzysztof has been a writer who has depicted the anxieties of human existence and the collapse of the world in his compelling prose. His prose, with its endlessly long sentences and intense narrative tension, immerses readers in a unique style that can be called a "reading exercise."
Alma Publishing has introduced the author's six representative works, "Satan Tango," "Melancholy of Resistance," "The Last Wolf," "The World Goes On," "The Descent of the Queen Mother of the West," and "The Return of Baron Wenkheim," to Korea, and plans to publish a new work, "Herscht 07769," in January 2026.
"Hersht 07769" depicts the journey of "Hersht," a man called by a number instead of a name, as he seeks to rediscover his identity and the meaning of language in a world after the collapse of civilization. In a society where communication is based solely on numbers and symbols, he encounters a world of humans whose names can no longer be called. This work is considered to be the author's later work that most densely embodies the "anxiety of existence" and "human possibilities after the end of language," which the author has consistently explored.
His literary works, which have expanded globally, have long cultivated a deep readership, even amidst a quiet resonance. This Nobel Prize in Literature marks the moment when his endless exploration of the origins of humanity and art is once again resurrected in the languages of the world, and will undoubtedly resonate deeply with readers.
Promotion of screenings of "Reading László Krzysztof ...
To commemorate this award, Alma Publishing will present a booklet titled "Reading László Krasnahorkai" (tentative title), which aims to bring readers closer to the world of literature, which is by no means easy but essential to read. The contributors include Professor Han Kyung-min, poet Jo Won-gyu, film critic Jeong Seong-il, literary critic Jang Eun-soo, critic Geum Jeong-yeon, and poet Kim Yu-tae, who will each interpret the author's world from their own perspectives.
Additionally, in order to expand and illuminate the author's literary world through film, we are promoting the screening of "Werckmeister Harmonies," based on the films "Satantango" and "Resistance Melancholy" by another world-renowned director, Tar Bella.
- You can preview some of the book's contents.
Preview
index
The Last Wolf
Herman
- Hunting Grounds Manager (First Edition)
- Death of Artifice (Second Edition)
Herman
- Hunting Grounds Manager (First Edition)
- Death of Artifice (Second Edition)
Into the book
He just laughed, a laugh that came out without restraint, but then he got so caught up in wondering if there was any difference between emptiness on the one hand and contempt on the other, and what on earth it all had to do with anything, because it was always with him, irrevocably connected to everything and everything in the world, spreading from everything and everywhere, and besides, if everything was happening everywhere, it would be difficult to determine where it was headed and what it came from, so it wouldn't be a hearty laugh anyway. Because emptiness and contempt had been weighing on him for days, and he was doing nothing, doing nothing, just drifting aimlessly, sitting in his Spashwein with his first glass of Steinbürger beside him, and on the other hand, everything around him was dripping with utter emptiness, so what more could he say about contempt?
--- pp.9-10
Because they knew that all of Extremadura was outside the world, because Extremadura means outside, way out there, you know? That's why the land and the people were so wonderful, because no one really knew the danger posed by the threatening proximity of the world that suddenly approached. They, the people of Extremadura, lived in terrible danger, he explained to the bartender, because they had no idea what kind of trouble they were in, what spiritual transformation would take place if the highways and the shopping centers wreaked havoc on their fields, fields where poverty had been terrible.
Because he knows from the pictures what it was like before, it was horrible, it was terribly terrifying, someone really had to put an end to it, and they did, and they will continue to put an end to it, and the only thing that is terribly deplorable is that there is only one way for them to do this, to accept the world inside, to acknowledge the damned hell that it is, and because of this, everything will go down the drain, because although they did not know it at all, everything in Extremadura, the land, the people, everything, will be damned, they lack knowledge, they do not realize what they are doing, what awaits them, but he, he felt it keenly,
--- pp.39-40
The memory—José Miguel looked straight at him, his eyes wide and wide in shock as if the whole story were happening now, staring deeply into the visitor's eyes—seemed vividly before him, as if it had happened only moments ago, her guts spilling out, her crushed belly with her dead cub inside—viscera still fresh in his mind, and he would never let it leave his sight. The wolf had to be hit, this female had been hit simply because she was pregnant, too full to run fast on the road, and because of that, she couldn't escape the random chance of an accident, and perhaps couldn't dodge the car barreling down the road like a murderer. The thought struck him and he just stood there, frozen in place. Standing beside the dead animal in the middle of the road, passing cars honked their horns at him and avoided him, but the sound seemed to come from far away, and he stood transfixed. If his companion, the old gamekeeper, hadn't come, he too would have been hit, and he would have been beside the wolf. Many of his companions yanked him to the side of the road in this state, and then dragged the wolf out, but he could hardly move for a long time, so he had to do it all by himself. Even then, barely knowing what he was doing, he just followed what they told him to do. Eventually, they dragged the wolf together to the roadside ditch and buried it right there, so much so that to this day he can point out the spot where it was buried. Although now, he said, looking deep into his eyes again and starting the jeep, "Of course you'll find nothing but bones. Of course, if you're going to salvage anything, but let's leave that problem alone," he cleared his throat and pressed down on the accelerator.
--- pp.72-73
And as winter truly set in and Christmas drew near, he finally realized that he had been living his life in the deepest ignorance, simply submitting to the dictates of others, believing that he was following the order of divine providence, and that the world was thus divided into a harmful world and a beneficial world.
But it wasn't long before he realized that both categories had their origins in the same heinous and merciless atrocities, that both harbored the light of hell within them, and that it was not the fragile peace or the 'true command of the heart' that ruled the human world.
Because all of that was just a transparent curtain hiding the 'masses entangled in bloody chaos' writhing all around below.
A sudden surge of compassion for the person who had fallen like that swept over me.
Likewise, this pity aroused a rebellion against the loyalty that had so far chained him to the tyranny of the law.
He now believed that there must be higher laws beyond human calculation, and he had probably crossed a boundary that would leave him alone forever.
--- p.95
Especially in the trap he'd laid at the end... it felt like something had broken inside him, as if... all of a sudden, all the strength, the strength that had fed and sustained his sense of justice, had been drained away.
When he heard how many children had already been caught in the trap, he began to suspect that he was 'following the wrong scent'. ... He was driven to kill with his own two hands, 'swinging blindly in the dark', an act of retribution, in the belief that he was 'paying them back for having been so deluded'.
But now - after three days of thinking about it - he could no longer ignore it and put it off, he had to face the possibility that he might be wrong.
Instead of restoring the 'missing order', it seemed he, and perhaps no one else, was being eaten away from within like a worm, ultimately leading to its disintegration.
A sharp pain suddenly stabbed his shoulder, and the darkness where he sat suddenly became eerie, and he could already sense that he could no longer control his thoughts that were racing uncontrollably.
--- p.102
And our technologies - understanding that behind our miserable experiences we are merely foolish victims of the thinking mind, not heroes in pursuit of a great cause - are built on the achievement of tangible realization, on the pursuit of unbridled pleasure, on the ceaseless restoration of an Eden bereft of primitive imagination, and find solace in the transgression of the law, while the wretched means of 'Herman', deliberately chosen, are revived by a deceptive self-esteem and presented with the arrogance of believing in the irresistibility of weakness.
At the very moment when we were cruelly (again, only Gustav found the right word) treating things like animals, and violating their fragile wholeness precisely because they were perfect, we realized that this 'Herman', caught up in ancient, deep-rooted impulses, was somehow magnifying and exalting destructiveness.
After this incident, the hotel manager informed us that several so-called public organizations and self-defense forces had been formed in the village for the purpose of capturing the trappers, and he assumed that we too would not be able to ignore this situation, so you can understand why we accepted his subtle invitation to join the pursuit.
--- pp.9-10
Because they knew that all of Extremadura was outside the world, because Extremadura means outside, way out there, you know? That's why the land and the people were so wonderful, because no one really knew the danger posed by the threatening proximity of the world that suddenly approached. They, the people of Extremadura, lived in terrible danger, he explained to the bartender, because they had no idea what kind of trouble they were in, what spiritual transformation would take place if the highways and the shopping centers wreaked havoc on their fields, fields where poverty had been terrible.
Because he knows from the pictures what it was like before, it was horrible, it was terribly terrifying, someone really had to put an end to it, and they did, and they will continue to put an end to it, and the only thing that is terribly deplorable is that there is only one way for them to do this, to accept the world inside, to acknowledge the damned hell that it is, and because of this, everything will go down the drain, because although they did not know it at all, everything in Extremadura, the land, the people, everything, will be damned, they lack knowledge, they do not realize what they are doing, what awaits them, but he, he felt it keenly,
--- pp.39-40
The memory—José Miguel looked straight at him, his eyes wide and wide in shock as if the whole story were happening now, staring deeply into the visitor's eyes—seemed vividly before him, as if it had happened only moments ago, her guts spilling out, her crushed belly with her dead cub inside—viscera still fresh in his mind, and he would never let it leave his sight. The wolf had to be hit, this female had been hit simply because she was pregnant, too full to run fast on the road, and because of that, she couldn't escape the random chance of an accident, and perhaps couldn't dodge the car barreling down the road like a murderer. The thought struck him and he just stood there, frozen in place. Standing beside the dead animal in the middle of the road, passing cars honked their horns at him and avoided him, but the sound seemed to come from far away, and he stood transfixed. If his companion, the old gamekeeper, hadn't come, he too would have been hit, and he would have been beside the wolf. Many of his companions yanked him to the side of the road in this state, and then dragged the wolf out, but he could hardly move for a long time, so he had to do it all by himself. Even then, barely knowing what he was doing, he just followed what they told him to do. Eventually, they dragged the wolf together to the roadside ditch and buried it right there, so much so that to this day he can point out the spot where it was buried. Although now, he said, looking deep into his eyes again and starting the jeep, "Of course you'll find nothing but bones. Of course, if you're going to salvage anything, but let's leave that problem alone," he cleared his throat and pressed down on the accelerator.
--- pp.72-73
And as winter truly set in and Christmas drew near, he finally realized that he had been living his life in the deepest ignorance, simply submitting to the dictates of others, believing that he was following the order of divine providence, and that the world was thus divided into a harmful world and a beneficial world.
But it wasn't long before he realized that both categories had their origins in the same heinous and merciless atrocities, that both harbored the light of hell within them, and that it was not the fragile peace or the 'true command of the heart' that ruled the human world.
Because all of that was just a transparent curtain hiding the 'masses entangled in bloody chaos' writhing all around below.
A sudden surge of compassion for the person who had fallen like that swept over me.
Likewise, this pity aroused a rebellion against the loyalty that had so far chained him to the tyranny of the law.
He now believed that there must be higher laws beyond human calculation, and he had probably crossed a boundary that would leave him alone forever.
--- p.95
Especially in the trap he'd laid at the end... it felt like something had broken inside him, as if... all of a sudden, all the strength, the strength that had fed and sustained his sense of justice, had been drained away.
When he heard how many children had already been caught in the trap, he began to suspect that he was 'following the wrong scent'. ... He was driven to kill with his own two hands, 'swinging blindly in the dark', an act of retribution, in the belief that he was 'paying them back for having been so deluded'.
But now - after three days of thinking about it - he could no longer ignore it and put it off, he had to face the possibility that he might be wrong.
Instead of restoring the 'missing order', it seemed he, and perhaps no one else, was being eaten away from within like a worm, ultimately leading to its disintegration.
A sharp pain suddenly stabbed his shoulder, and the darkness where he sat suddenly became eerie, and he could already sense that he could no longer control his thoughts that were racing uncontrollably.
--- p.102
And our technologies - understanding that behind our miserable experiences we are merely foolish victims of the thinking mind, not heroes in pursuit of a great cause - are built on the achievement of tangible realization, on the pursuit of unbridled pleasure, on the ceaseless restoration of an Eden bereft of primitive imagination, and find solace in the transgression of the law, while the wretched means of 'Herman', deliberately chosen, are revived by a deceptive self-esteem and presented with the arrogance of believing in the irresistibility of weakness.
At the very moment when we were cruelly (again, only Gustav found the right word) treating things like animals, and violating their fragile wholeness precisely because they were perfect, we realized that this 'Herman', caught up in ancient, deep-rooted impulses, was somehow magnifying and exalting destructiveness.
After this incident, the hotel manager informed us that several so-called public organizations and self-defense forces had been formed in the village for the purpose of capturing the trappers, and he assumed that we too would not be able to ignore this situation, so you can understand why we accepted his subtle invitation to join the pursuit.
--- p.125
Publisher's Review
A sadly beautiful philosophical exploration of the futility of the boundaries between man and nature, hunter and prey.
Two stories published 23 years apart, a book that allows you to fully savor the essence of his literature.
A wonderfully visceral and beautiful story by the great Hungarian writer, László Krásznáhorkaj.
Hungarian problematic writer László Krzysztof ...
This collection, consisting of the two title works “The Last Wolf” and “Herman,” is all the more welcome because it was praised by critics at the time of its local publication (2015) as “a book that allows one to savor the literary essence of László Krasnahorkai.”
In particular, the two works included in this collection are evaluated as a collection that allows one to enjoy both the early and mature works of László Krasnahorkai, as they were published over a period of 23 years.
The title work, “The Last Wolf,” was first published in Hungary in 2009.
In contrast, "Herman," which deals with one incident from two perspectives, is a work included in his first short story collection, "Elegant Relations (Kegyelmi viszonyok; Relations of Grace)," published in 1986.
The following review by British novelist and journalist Hari Kunzru captures this characteristic of The Last Wolf precisely:
“The Last Wolf” and “Herman” give us the opportunity to fully savor the joy inherent in the works of László Krzysztof Krzysztof.
This gives us an opportunity to compare the early and later styles of his literature.
…the two works in the collection The Last Wolf raise spiritual questions that confirm László Krasnahorkai as one of the most important and strangest writers working today.”
There is a long passage of 23 years between “The Last Wolf,” which tells the story of a despairing philosopher who, on an unexpected trip to Spain, begins to track down the story of the “last wolf” through a bartender in a tavern, and “Herman,” which tells the sad story of Herman, a master trapper who was exterminating wild predators in the Remete Forest just before retirement, but as critic Claire Korda-Hazelton wrote in her review, “in both novellas, László Krasnahorkai demonstrates his tremendous writing ability to create unforgettably instinctive and beautiful stories.”
Additionally, the two different works share similar themes.
In other words, the hunters appearing in both works come to resemble the animals they are chasing.
In exploring how the boundaries between humans and nature, hunter and prey, are collapsing, the author depicts a forest full of traps and a devastated world of those who follow their tracks.
In this way, "The Last Wolf" and "Herman" discover László Krasnahorkaj's long-standing literary orientation of exploring human existence.
Such quests depict, sadly and beautifully, 'those who return to nature and surrender completely to it,' 'those who seek to reclaim the lost Eden,' and 'all of us who seek the unattainable.'
"The Last Wolf," a literary device expressing the suffocating feeling of despair and frustration, written in a single, comma-free sentence.
"Herman": Two Perspectives on a Single Event, a Philosophical Exploration of the Irony of Human Existence
The narrator of the title piece of "The Last Wolf" is a philosopher who was once called a professor.
The piece begins by introducing the narrator, who laughs at himself with a sense of futility and contempt.
The narrator, who stops by Spashbein, a cheap bar in Berlin frequented by foreign workers, from the morning, starts a long rant to the Hungarian bartender who listens to his story absentmindedly.
He tells the full story of his trip to Extremadura after being invited by a Spanish foundation.
The story mainly consists of his futile attempt to write about the flowering of Extremadura, in exchange for a stay in Spain and a hefty fee, only to return to Spain after having accomplished nothing and pursuing a record of the last wolf in Spain.
The author tells this long story in a single sentence made up of commas, without dividing it into sentences or paragraphs.
As the Hungarian-born British poet George Szirtes described it, “a narrative as slow as a lava flow, a vast river of black type,” this work, a single sentence stretching across 70 pages, powerfully portrays the emptiness and meaning of life.
This endless stream of sentences not only exhibits a jazz-like improvisation, but the unstoppable narrative allows for the proliferation of bizarre meanings.
Readers who follow the flow of this story are immersed in the confusion, despair, and helplessness that the author unfolds without even having time to breathe.
Another of the author's early works, the short story "Herman," attempts a different literary approach.
By telling one event from two completely different perspectives, the irony of human existence is contrasted.
The first edition, “The Gamekeeper,” delicately tells a tragic story of a man seeking the meaning of existence while breaking down the boundaries between humans and animals, hunters and prey, by depicting the unfolding of events from the perspective of the protagonist, Herman.
In contrast, in the second edition, “The Death of Artifice,” Herman looks back on his anguished rebellion from the perspective of a free-spirited aristocratic narrator.
These two stories portray 'Herman's Rebellion' as a noble human value in the sense that it reflects on the fear of human pride, but they also remind us of the author's vain wish for 'complete liberation of imagination' as much as the attitude of the laissez-faire aristocratic narrator.
The two literary devices that László Krüsterhorkai employs in his two works are a great achievement in that they have a powerful impulse for reflection.
In that sense, Christine Smallwood's point that these two works have “the quality of an eerie mirror” is clear.
As is often the case with his works, the two stories included in the collection The Last Wolf are not easy to understand, but they are masterpieces with a unique charm that makes them come to new understanding the more you read them and ponder their contents.
This is a delightful collection of works that demonstrates the depth of the author's abilities, as he himself described himself as "a writer for readers who seek beauty in hell."
Series Introduction
Alma Incognita series
Embark on a special adventure into an unknown world through literature.
Toshiki Okada
The End of the Special Time Granted to Us (by Toshiki Okada, translated by Sanghong Lee, August 2016)
A Relatively Optimistic Case (by Toshiki Okada, translated by Hongi Lee, July 2017)
Hervé Guibert
Ghost Images (by Hervé Guibert, translated by An Bo-ok, March 2017)
The Man in the Red Hat (by Hervé Guibert, translated by An Bo-ok, June 2018)
To the Friend Who Couldn't Save My Life (Hervé Gibet, November 2018)
The Record of Compassion (by Hervé Guibert, translated by Shin Yu-jin, March 2022)
Mathieu Langdon
Erberino (by Mathieu Lindon, translated by Shin Yu-jin, December 2022)
Uming
Elephant on the Sunlit Road (Written by Wuming, translated by Heo Yu-yeong, March 2018)
Laszlo Krusnahorkay
Satan Tango (by László Krzysztof ...
The Melancholy of Resistance (by László Krzysztof ...
The Last Wolf (by László Krzysztof ...
The Descent of the Queen Mother of the West (by László Krzysztof ...
The World Goes On (by László Krzysztof ...
The Return of Baron Wenckheim (by László Krzysztof ...
David Foster Wallace
Oblivion (by David Foster Wallace, translated by Shin Ji-young, October 2019)
String Theory (by David Foster Wallace, translated by Noh Seung-young, November 2019)
A Univus Pluram: Television and the American Novel (by David Foster Wallace, translated by Noh Seung-young, February 2022)
Olivia Rosenthal
Survival Mechanisms in Hostile Situations (by Olivia Rosenthal, translated by Hankookhwa, January 2020)
Kim Sa-gwa
Outside is a Burning Swamp/Trapped in a Mental Hospital (by Kim Sa-gwa, November 2020)
Laurie Frankel
Claude and Poppy (by Laurie Frankl, translated by Kim Hee-jung, May 2023)
John Jeremiah Sullivan
Pulphead (by John Jeremiah Sullivan, translated by Go Young-beom, August 2023)
Norman Erickson Passaribu
Mostly Happy Stories (by Norman Erickson Passaribu, translated by Go Young-beom, November 2023)
Guillaume Laurent
My Body Disappeared (by Guillaume Laurent, translated by Kim Do-yeon, March 2024)
Ludovic Escand
Dreamers of the Night (by Ludovic Escand, translated by Kim Nam-joo, January 2025)
* Will continue to be published.
Two stories published 23 years apart, a book that allows you to fully savor the essence of his literature.
A wonderfully visceral and beautiful story by the great Hungarian writer, László Krásznáhorkaj.
Hungarian problematic writer László Krzysztof ...
This collection, consisting of the two title works “The Last Wolf” and “Herman,” is all the more welcome because it was praised by critics at the time of its local publication (2015) as “a book that allows one to savor the literary essence of László Krasnahorkai.”
In particular, the two works included in this collection are evaluated as a collection that allows one to enjoy both the early and mature works of László Krasnahorkai, as they were published over a period of 23 years.
The title work, “The Last Wolf,” was first published in Hungary in 2009.
In contrast, "Herman," which deals with one incident from two perspectives, is a work included in his first short story collection, "Elegant Relations (Kegyelmi viszonyok; Relations of Grace)," published in 1986.
The following review by British novelist and journalist Hari Kunzru captures this characteristic of The Last Wolf precisely:
“The Last Wolf” and “Herman” give us the opportunity to fully savor the joy inherent in the works of László Krzysztof Krzysztof.
This gives us an opportunity to compare the early and later styles of his literature.
…the two works in the collection The Last Wolf raise spiritual questions that confirm László Krasnahorkai as one of the most important and strangest writers working today.”
There is a long passage of 23 years between “The Last Wolf,” which tells the story of a despairing philosopher who, on an unexpected trip to Spain, begins to track down the story of the “last wolf” through a bartender in a tavern, and “Herman,” which tells the sad story of Herman, a master trapper who was exterminating wild predators in the Remete Forest just before retirement, but as critic Claire Korda-Hazelton wrote in her review, “in both novellas, László Krasnahorkai demonstrates his tremendous writing ability to create unforgettably instinctive and beautiful stories.”
Additionally, the two different works share similar themes.
In other words, the hunters appearing in both works come to resemble the animals they are chasing.
In exploring how the boundaries between humans and nature, hunter and prey, are collapsing, the author depicts a forest full of traps and a devastated world of those who follow their tracks.
In this way, "The Last Wolf" and "Herman" discover László Krasnahorkaj's long-standing literary orientation of exploring human existence.
Such quests depict, sadly and beautifully, 'those who return to nature and surrender completely to it,' 'those who seek to reclaim the lost Eden,' and 'all of us who seek the unattainable.'
"The Last Wolf," a literary device expressing the suffocating feeling of despair and frustration, written in a single, comma-free sentence.
"Herman": Two Perspectives on a Single Event, a Philosophical Exploration of the Irony of Human Existence
The narrator of the title piece of "The Last Wolf" is a philosopher who was once called a professor.
The piece begins by introducing the narrator, who laughs at himself with a sense of futility and contempt.
The narrator, who stops by Spashbein, a cheap bar in Berlin frequented by foreign workers, from the morning, starts a long rant to the Hungarian bartender who listens to his story absentmindedly.
He tells the full story of his trip to Extremadura after being invited by a Spanish foundation.
The story mainly consists of his futile attempt to write about the flowering of Extremadura, in exchange for a stay in Spain and a hefty fee, only to return to Spain after having accomplished nothing and pursuing a record of the last wolf in Spain.
The author tells this long story in a single sentence made up of commas, without dividing it into sentences or paragraphs.
As the Hungarian-born British poet George Szirtes described it, “a narrative as slow as a lava flow, a vast river of black type,” this work, a single sentence stretching across 70 pages, powerfully portrays the emptiness and meaning of life.
This endless stream of sentences not only exhibits a jazz-like improvisation, but the unstoppable narrative allows for the proliferation of bizarre meanings.
Readers who follow the flow of this story are immersed in the confusion, despair, and helplessness that the author unfolds without even having time to breathe.
Another of the author's early works, the short story "Herman," attempts a different literary approach.
By telling one event from two completely different perspectives, the irony of human existence is contrasted.
The first edition, “The Gamekeeper,” delicately tells a tragic story of a man seeking the meaning of existence while breaking down the boundaries between humans and animals, hunters and prey, by depicting the unfolding of events from the perspective of the protagonist, Herman.
In contrast, in the second edition, “The Death of Artifice,” Herman looks back on his anguished rebellion from the perspective of a free-spirited aristocratic narrator.
These two stories portray 'Herman's Rebellion' as a noble human value in the sense that it reflects on the fear of human pride, but they also remind us of the author's vain wish for 'complete liberation of imagination' as much as the attitude of the laissez-faire aristocratic narrator.
The two literary devices that László Krüsterhorkai employs in his two works are a great achievement in that they have a powerful impulse for reflection.
In that sense, Christine Smallwood's point that these two works have “the quality of an eerie mirror” is clear.
As is often the case with his works, the two stories included in the collection The Last Wolf are not easy to understand, but they are masterpieces with a unique charm that makes them come to new understanding the more you read them and ponder their contents.
This is a delightful collection of works that demonstrates the depth of the author's abilities, as he himself described himself as "a writer for readers who seek beauty in hell."
Series Introduction
Alma Incognita series
Embark on a special adventure into an unknown world through literature.
Toshiki Okada
The End of the Special Time Granted to Us (by Toshiki Okada, translated by Sanghong Lee, August 2016)
A Relatively Optimistic Case (by Toshiki Okada, translated by Hongi Lee, July 2017)
Hervé Guibert
Ghost Images (by Hervé Guibert, translated by An Bo-ok, March 2017)
The Man in the Red Hat (by Hervé Guibert, translated by An Bo-ok, June 2018)
To the Friend Who Couldn't Save My Life (Hervé Gibet, November 2018)
The Record of Compassion (by Hervé Guibert, translated by Shin Yu-jin, March 2022)
Mathieu Langdon
Erberino (by Mathieu Lindon, translated by Shin Yu-jin, December 2022)
Uming
Elephant on the Sunlit Road (Written by Wuming, translated by Heo Yu-yeong, March 2018)
Laszlo Krusnahorkay
Satan Tango (by László Krzysztof ...
The Melancholy of Resistance (by László Krzysztof ...
The Last Wolf (by László Krzysztof ...
The Descent of the Queen Mother of the West (by László Krzysztof ...
The World Goes On (by László Krzysztof ...
The Return of Baron Wenckheim (by László Krzysztof ...
David Foster Wallace
Oblivion (by David Foster Wallace, translated by Shin Ji-young, October 2019)
String Theory (by David Foster Wallace, translated by Noh Seung-young, November 2019)
A Univus Pluram: Television and the American Novel (by David Foster Wallace, translated by Noh Seung-young, February 2022)
Olivia Rosenthal
Survival Mechanisms in Hostile Situations (by Olivia Rosenthal, translated by Hankookhwa, January 2020)
Kim Sa-gwa
Outside is a Burning Swamp/Trapped in a Mental Hospital (by Kim Sa-gwa, November 2020)
Laurie Frankel
Claude and Poppy (by Laurie Frankl, translated by Kim Hee-jung, May 2023)
John Jeremiah Sullivan
Pulphead (by John Jeremiah Sullivan, translated by Go Young-beom, August 2023)
Norman Erickson Passaribu
Mostly Happy Stories (by Norman Erickson Passaribu, translated by Go Young-beom, November 2023)
Guillaume Laurent
My Body Disappeared (by Guillaume Laurent, translated by Kim Do-yeon, March 2024)
Ludovic Escand
Dreamers of the Night (by Ludovic Escand, translated by Kim Nam-joo, January 2025)
* Will continue to be published.
GOODS SPECIFICS
- Publication date: October 29, 2021
- Page count, weight, size: 132 pages | 236g | 135*220*12mm
- ISBN13: 9791159923500
- ISBN10: 1159923507
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